Myths surround ag water availability
Source: Capital Press, by Patricia R. McCoy
December 07, 2007
Urbanites use more water than farmers, resource seminar attendees learn
BOISE - People buying small parcels of rural land on which to build a home out in the country assume they have water, or can easily obtain it.
Those are two of many myths irrigation canal companies find themselves dealing with, said Larry Pennington, of North Side Canal Co., Jerome.
"Poor or no planning at all puts a lot of these parcels half a mile from a canal. If the neighbor denies people an easement to install a new ditch or pipeline, they may be out of luck," Pennington told the annual Water Law and Resource Issues Seminar here Nov. 29.
"Even if they get an easement, our company will not deliver less than eight shares of water through a headgate," he said. "To give you some idea, one share is approximately the amount of water delivered by a garden hose."
In some cases, urbanites have bought rural land assuming they had water when there is none, he told some 200 persons attending the annual seminar, sponsored by the Idaho Water Users Association.
"We've seen developers buy a parcel of ground, sell the water rights, then turn around and subdivide the land," Pennington said. "Their buyers are then left with no water."
Another myth holds that subdivisions are always built as designed and up to code. That one can really cause ditch companies grief, he said.
"Official scrutiny is less than perfect, and developers are into cost-cutting. We've found irrigation pipes under houses, and ditches built to deliver water uphill," he said. "North Side has a professional engineer on retainer. We pay him to check over all plans to make sure they're up to code, pipes are sized correctly, and there are no other problems. Until he signs off on a plan, we won't. He bills us, after which we charge the subdivision enough to reimburse that expense."
Another great myth is the assumption by too many urbanites that it's acceptable to pump irrigation water directly from a canal. In fact, all water must go through a measuring device, Pennington said. Often, the canal company ends up installing another headgate.
"People not involved with agriculture also assume gray and black water are acceptable, or even welcome in canals," he said. "The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the health department both get concerned when that happens, and we do too."
Pennington showed seminar attendees a picture of a rural home beside a canal with a hose running from the owner's washing machine to the canal. Downstream, the same homeowner had a second, uptake pipe pulling water from the canal to water his lawn and garden.
"That's the ultimate in recycling," the speaker said, drawing laughter from the irrigators, water specialists and attorneys in the room. "He didn't realize he was collecting his own dirty water for his land."
One myth that is true is the charge that rural subdivisions require more water than the original farmland, he said. Farmers irrigate crops on a rigid schedule, well aware their water right allows them to use only a certain amount. Urbanites tend to use as much as they want, when they want it.
One solution used by many rural subdivisions is to develop a community ditch and set up an organization to manage it. That usually means appointing a water master to take care of the ditch, he said. While they can work well, many are a pain. There are often problems over fee collections, maintenance and sharing.
Pennington was part of a four-man panel discussing urban irrigation water use. Other panelists included John Anderson, Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District, who lives in a rural suburb where homeowners set up an urban water district.
"At first I helped my neighbors set up a schedule for when each could irrigate. Then our gravity-flow ditch was converted to a pressurized system. Now everybody wants water, but when it comes time for maintenance nobody but me is around," Anderson said.
"The biggest problem is to educate people," he said. "It really is true that urbanites use more water than farmers. Many of them turn on their sprinklers and hoses as soon as they can, and continue watering their lawns right up into November."
click here for more information
|
