Irrigation ditches play an important role in the history of Central Oregon. And as important as they are, we don’t tend to think about them very much, because, well, they are ditches.

That changed recently for a stretch of canal in the Central Oregon Irrigation District. This is no mere ditch, we are told. It is “an assemblage of man-made and natural features joined together by a ‘thread’ of space and time that recreate a 1904 experience.”

And there’s more:

“The essence of this linear corridor; however, is more than an experience of a ‘sense of place.’ It presents a multitude of sights, sounds, motions, and emotions.”

And also:

“The pioneer spirit can be felt.”

Those overwrought passages are from a very serious application to nominate more than a mile of the Pilot Butte Canal for national designation as historic.

It is, of course, historic in its way. There are 113 pages of thorough research backing that up on the website of the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation.

But hold on. This possible historic designation is not so good for Central Oregon.

What makes any irrigation ditch important is that water is so important here. Water is scarce. Water must be carefully shepherded to provide enough for people to drink, crops to grow and wildlife to thrive.

Ditches leak. They lose water through seepage and evaporation.

Central Oregon Irrigation District has estimated that piping an additional 0.85 miles in this stretch would save another 7.95 cubic feet per second of water. To give you an idea of how much water that is, 1 cubic foot of water is more than 7 gallons of water.

Neighbors along this stretch of canal don’t want it piped. They would lose a beautiful water feature, part of the year. Their new view would be a lump of pipe garnished with landscaping.

It’s no accident that the historic designation could delay or prevent piping. But that should not be allowed to happen. Water matters more than the ditch.