<p><span style="color: #444e5c; font-size: 13px;">Columbia River water is scheduled to start flooding into a big leaky pond near here early Saturday as part of a historic effort to recharge the Umatilla Basin's long-depleted underground aquifers.&nbsp;<br style="vertical-align: bottom; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" /><br style="vertical-align: bottom; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" />Water for irrigation has become an increasingly scarce commodity since the 1970s in this parched northeastern Oregon farming region between Irrigon and the Blue Mountains. Seven to 9 inches of annual rainfall is common in some places, not enough to refill aquifers tapped by farmers to grow crops.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/09/northeastern_oregons_farming_r.html" title="Northeastern Oregon's farming region will get injection of Columbia River water to pump up depleted aquifers">More</a> (Source: The Oregonian)</span></p>