How the Deschutes River Conservancy aims to bridge the divide among water users Interview by Kevin Max Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. At the Deschutes River Conservancy in Central Oregon, they’re taking the fight out of water. The new executive director, Kate Fitzpatrick, is a veteran of the organization and skillful ambassador among the widely divergent stakeholders of water management and marketing. We caught up with her just after the river conservancy received federal funds for new projects. What are the different water interests you’re balancing on a daily basis? We are balancing water demands for healthy river flows, irrigated agriculture and growing urban communities. The lion’s share of water in the Deschutes Basin (86 percent) is allocated in the form of water rights that are diverted from the river to support irrigated agriculture. The challenge is to restore more natural flows to the river while…