ROCKY BARKER, IDAHO STATESMAN - Idaho Water Resources Director David
Tuthill said he is prepared to use sheriffs or Idaho State Police
officers if necessary to shut off pumps irrigating 22,000 acres of crops
in the Magic Valley this week. Food processing plants, 13 cities and
dozens of dairies also would lose access to groundwater under Tuthill's
order to meet the demand of two trout producers. Overall, the
curtailment could directly cost Idaho's economy more than $28 million
this year, based on Tuthill's estimate.
Tuthill told the legislature's interim natural resources committee he
still hoped to avoid what would be the largest curtailment of water
rights in the state's history. But talks Friday between groundwater
users and the two fish companies failed to bridge their differences over
when and how to hold a hearing based on the state's first-come,
first-served water laws. "We have no desire to curtail, but will do so
if required by state law," Tuthill said.
If Tuthill goes ahead with the curtailment, he's confident that cities,
most businesses and farmers will follow the law. Farmers would get a
letter ordering them to shut off their pumps by a cutoff date.
After that, the state has remote monitoring technology to see who is not
complying. Farmers would face a $300-per-acre fine for ignoring
Tuthill's order.
"We aren't looking for confrontations in people's back yards," Tuthill
said.
But the state has called in county sheriffs in the past to enforce water
laws and could even call in the Idaho State Police, Tuthill said.
"This is not something, I suspect, where we bring out the National
Guard," Tuthill said.
In times of drought, users with newer, junior rights are forced to stop
using water. This is routine among competing surface water users but has
never been carried out against groundwater users.
Shutting down pumps in the middle of the growing season would be the
worst-case scenario in the continuing water dispute between groundwater
users and surface water users who depend on water from the Eastern Snake
Plain Aquifer. The aquifer is an underground water source the size of
Lake Erie that spreads from Ashton west to King Hill.
Farmers, who can have thousands of dollars invested per acre in
high-value crops like corn, sugar beets and potatoes, could lose
everything, with the costs rippling through the economy in the form of
defaulted bank loans, unpaid bills to suppliers and unpaid taxes.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/88255.html
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Tuthill said he is prepared to use sheriffs or Idaho State Police
officers if necessary to shut off pumps irrigating 22,000 acres of crops
in the Magic Valley this week. Food processing plants, 13 cities and
dozens of dairies also would lose access to groundwater under Tuthill's
order to meet the demand of two trout producers. Overall, the
curtailment could directly cost Idaho's economy more than $28 million
this year, based on Tuthill's estimate.
Tuthill told the legislature's interim natural resources committee he
still hoped to avoid what would be the largest curtailment of water
rights in the state's history. But talks Friday between groundwater
users and the two fish companies failed to bridge their differences over
when and how to hold a hearing based on the state's first-come,
first-served water laws. "We have no desire to curtail, but will do so
if required by state law," Tuthill said.
If Tuthill goes ahead with the curtailment, he's confident that cities,
most businesses and farmers will follow the law. Farmers would get a
letter ordering them to shut off their pumps by a cutoff date.
After that, the state has remote monitoring technology to see who is not
complying. Farmers would face a $300-per-acre fine for ignoring
Tuthill's order.
"We aren't looking for confrontations in people's back yards," Tuthill
said.
But the state has called in county sheriffs in the past to enforce water
laws and could even call in the Idaho State Police, Tuthill said.
"This is not something, I suspect, where we bring out the National
Guard," Tuthill said.
In times of drought, users with newer, junior rights are forced to stop
using water. This is routine among competing surface water users but has
never been carried out against groundwater users.
Shutting down pumps in the middle of the growing season would be the
worst-case scenario in the continuing water dispute between groundwater
users and surface water users who depend on water from the Eastern Snake
Plain Aquifer. The aquifer is an underground water source the size of
Lake Erie that spreads from Ashton west to King Hill.
Farmers, who can have thousands of dollars invested per acre in
high-value crops like corn, sugar beets and potatoes, could lose
everything, with the costs rippling through the economy in the form of
defaulted bank loans, unpaid bills to suppliers and unpaid taxes.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/88255.html
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