SWCD delivers water to approximately 17,700 acres of agricultural land within the District’s boundary through roughly 105.6 miles of open canal and 4.2 miles of piped conveyance.

Santiam Water Control District currently diverts water for 52 water rights certificates from the N. Santiam River. The District delivers these flows via a combination of District infrastructure and natural conveyances including Marion Creek, McKinney Creek, and Mill Creek.

These water rights are held by a myriad of users including SWCD, individual irrigators, companies, and municipalities. Beneficial uses for live flows include irrigation, power generation, municipal supply, manufacturing, and aesthetics. Together with these groups, SWCD’s water rights certificates and permits provide irrigation water for approximately 16,391 acres with district primary surface water rights.

In addition, the District has a primary stored water right of 579.87 acres and supplemental right of 398.42 acres to divert Detroit Reservoir stored water conveyed via the N. Santiam River, with a maximum of 1,997.59 acre feet of storage in Detroit Reservoir.

Several certificates served by the District limit the diversion of irrigation water to 1/80 cfs or 5.6 gallons per minute (gpm) per acre. Some water rights for irrigation are further limited to a maximum of between 2.5 and 3.5 acre feet per acre in each season. Existing District pipelines are designed to deliver a rate of 5.6 gpm per acre to patrons. Instream water rights protect year-round flow in the N. Santiam River. These instream rights are junior to most irrigation rights in the basin, with a priority date of June 22, 1964.