Irrigation Leader November/December 2011

Volume 2 Issue 10

November/December 2011

Elston Grubaugh: Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District Mitigates Salinity With Long-Term Outlook

Water Managers Address Water Quality Issues in Practical Ways

By Kris Polly

W

hen Washington state set new water quality standards that impacted the Roza and Sunnyside Irrigation Districts, district managers were concerned with the possibility of state officials entering private land for the purposes of enforcement.

Instead, the districts worked to implement a locally governed program to monitor water quality standard compliance that has been well-received by area landowners.

“If you have state standards being implemented, districts are far better for landowners to work with than to have a state agency coming on their farms,” said Roza’s operations manager, Tom Monroe. “The program is a lot better received that way.”

Practical solutions like this are necessary to ensure historical agricultural water use is not jeopardized by water quality issues. In this month’s featured interview, Elston Grubaugh of Arizona’s Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District described how his district has taken proactive steps to manage salinity concerns. Mitigating efforts have included diverse measures ranging from land retirement to the construction of advanced drainage systems and a desalting plant.

Similarly, a western Colorado task force is working to protect water use by implementing a selenium reduction program. Endangered fish in the area could be negatively impacted by certain concentrations of selenium, and a diverse federal, state, and local partnership is working collaboratively to mitigate any impact.

In Nebraska, the Central Platte Natural Resources District is helping growers to reduce nitrate-nitrogen levels in ground water. The program targets reductions in fertilizer use that not only improve water quality, but also help growers to reduce their costs while maintaining yields. Additionally, state regulation of chemigation techniques has helped to ensure fertilizer does not impact groundwater quality.

Westwide, the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS) has been working for two decades toward the common water quality goals of both municipal and agricultural entities. Efforts such as those undertaken

by WESTCAS are important as the western landscape continues to evolve and require diverse interests to work together.

Continued water quality monitoring and mitigation work is necessary to ensure the ongoing use and vitality of irrigation in the West. Approaches such as those highlighted in this issue are important components of a comprehensive paln to manage water resources.

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies, LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted by e-mailing Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

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NOVEMBER 2011

C O N T E N T S 2 Water Managers Address Water Quality Issues in Practical Ways

Volume 2

Issue 10

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for November-December and July-August by: Water Strategies, LLC P.O. Box 100576 Arlington, VA 22210 Staff: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Chisholm, Senior Writer James Heath, Advertising Sales Robin Pursley, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting, LLC, Copy Editor SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions.

However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved.

Submissions are returned only upon request.

ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads.

For more information on rates and placement, please contact James Heath by phoning (310) 471-3630 office, (310) 701-8401 cell, or by e-mailing Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, Members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors.

For address corrections or additions, please contact our office by e-mailing Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

COVER PHOTO: Elson Grubaugh, General Manager for the WelltonMohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (Wellton-Mohawk), November 2011.

Photo provided by Wellton-Mohwak.

Irrigation Leader

By Kris Polly, editor-in-chief

4 Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District Mitigates Salinity With Long-Term Outlook 8 Collaborative Colorado Group Works to Maintain Water Use, Bolster Fish Recovery With Selenium Reduction Efforts 10 Roza-Sunnyside Board of Joint Control Water Quality Program Targets Cooperation Through Local Enforcement 12 Central Platte Natural Resources District Works With Local Farmers to Combat Nitrogen’s Effect on Water Quality 16 Proposed Nebraska Regulation Reservoir Project Targets Benefits to Hydropower and River Flows 17 Keeping Ag Chemicals Out of Ground Water Requires Education, Inspections, and Regulations 22 Texas Irrigation Expo Aims to Promote Water Conservation Measures in Rio Grande Valley 23 WESTCAS Celebrates 20 Years as Voice of Water Quality for the Arid West

By Ed Curley

District Focus:

24 Delta Lake Irrigation District Grapples With Change, Border Security

By Troy Allen

26 Strawberry Water User’s Association Concerned Transfer Proposal Will Harm Small-Acreage Irrigators

By Jeremy Sorensen

Water Law:

28 Here Comes the Judge: Pending Clean Water Act Cases

By Robert S. Lynch

The Innovators:

30 Stormwater Collection Provides Water Saving Opportunities to Reduce Runnoff Events 3

Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District Mitigates Salinity With Long-Term Outlook

W

hen the Gila Project in southwestern Arizona was completed in 1952, Reclamation recognized that salinity control measures would be needed at some point in the life of the associated irrigation system. However, the initial engineering assessment predicted such measures would not need to be taken for decades.

Despite this prediction, Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District began to recognize salinity issues within the first decade of district’s existence. By 1961, drainage salinity reached 6,500 parts per million (ppm). In the ensuing decades, the district began proactive efforts to control salinity to maintain water quality.

Efforts undertaken by the district were twofold. First, Wellton-Mohawk cooperated with Reclamation to purchase and retire irrigated farmland with high saline content. Second, the district embraced advanced drainage systems and supported the construction of a desalting plant intended to treat its drainage water.

Today, the district continues work to maintain its extensive drainage system in order to mitigate the effects of high salinity and ensure water quality for the future. Irrigation Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly discussed these issues with WelltonMohawk General Manager Elston Grubaugh on October 11, 2011.

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Kris Polly: Can you describe the salinity issues the district has faced in the past?

Elston Grubaugh: Wellton-Mohawk, part of the Gila Project, was completed in 1952, and most of the soils at that time were naturally high in salt content. When Reclamation built the project, it thought that drainage would be needed eventually, but would not be required for several decades. However, once irrigators began farming this land using Colorado River water, the drainage needs started appearing after about 10 years. There was a higher water table and salinity buildup in the soil.

In 1961, the drainage salinity was 6,500 ppm and district irrigators were farming a little bit less than 75,000 acres. In the 1970s, the district supported federal efforts to buy out 6,500 acres of high-saline, high-water-use mesa ground. By 1973, our drainage salinity had dropped to 3,800 ppm. Then, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the district retired an additional 2,250 acres of mesa ground as part of the Pima-Maricopa Indian Water Rights Settlement. By 1997, our drainage salinity had fallen to

Irrigation Leader

about 2,700 ppm, and that is where it is today. It seems to have been fairly steady for the last 10–15 years. The district’s original irrigated acreage of 75,000 acres is now down to about 62,750 acres.

Kris Polly: Since the desalting plant has not always operated due to water supply and salinity conditions on the Colorado River, what happens to Wellton-Mohawk drainage water when it is not running?

Kris Polly: How else did the district work to reduce salinity?

Elston Grubaugh: The U.S. treaty with Mexico requires that, within a certain range, Mexico gets the same salinity of water at the border that U.S. users get at Imperial Dam. It has not been necessary to run the desalting plant to deliver that water because of salinity conditions on the Colorado. Instead of going through the desalting plant, Wellton-Mohawk drainage enters what is known as the bypass channel and flows into Mexico.

Elston Grubaugh: Drainage is the other important component. Our system is quite unique because we do not have surface drains. We use drainage wells to serve the purpose of keeping the water table below the root zone and maintaining a salinity balance.

Many would probably think a district with a surface irrigation system would have a surface drainage system, but all of our drainage is subsurface. We have a network of 86 drainage wells that pump saline ground water into the Main Outlet Drain, which is a conveyance channel that runs throughout the district. That drainage water runs pretty much by gravity back west to be carried out of the district and enters the Main Outlet Drain Extension, which carries it over to the Yuma Desalting Plant. The desalting plant, a Reclamation plant completed in 1993, was constructed to desalt Wellton-Mohawk drainage water.

Irrigation Leader

Kris Polly: What type of drains does the district use?

Elston Grubaugh: Tiles were tried here, but our soils are fairly light and tile is not required. The district operates and maintains 86 drainage wells that are set about a mile apart from each other. Those wells relieve our farmers from the headache of dealing with a tile system.

Kris Polly: How far down is the district’s water table?

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Elston Grubaugh: We have 300 observation wells that we monitor. In our last observation well report from September, our water table ranged from about 8 to 25 feet.

The aquifer is fairly uniform. It existed prior to irrigation, largely due to the underflow of the Gila River.

When irrigation with Colorado River water began, the water table rose because of the need for leaching to maintain salt balance.

Kris Polly: How does the district plan to deal with salinity issues in the future?

Elston Grubaugh: We are not looking at retiring anymore farmland. Our big challenge today is operating our 86 drainage wells. We have to keep them running because if one is off for a while, then the water table can begin to rise and start bringing saline water up into the root zone. The wells deteriorate over time, and keeping a regular maintenance and replacement program is very important. Making sure those wells are operated and kept in good shape is part of our daily operation.

Kris Polly: What are your other main challenges right now?

Elston Grubaugh: Aging infrastructure is an important issue to us because of Imperial Dam. We, along with a number of agencies in Arizona and California, divert water from the Colorado River at Imperial Dam. That dam is 75 years old and, in particular, the electrical system is in need of an upgrade. We are working on planning for a major electrical upgrade in the next few years that is going to be very expensive. Our canal system was supposed to have a 50- to 75-year life, and that is where we are now. With most of it built around 1950, it is over 60 years old. Aging infrastructure is a major challenge for us.

We would also like to look at promoting some of the retired farmland for urban and industrial uses, but in a down economy we have not been able to do that. We are very protective of agricultural land uses along the Gila River and focus residential and industrial development on that retired mesa ground. As a result, we really do not have any conflicts between agricultural and urban uses.

Wellton-Mohawk is located between the Yuma Proving Grounds and the Barry Goldwater Range, both important wildlife habitat areas. Most of our canals have escape stairs for wildlife. We work closely with the Arizona Game and Fish Department on water delivery in the Quigley Wildlife Area, as well as other wildlife issues in desert areas adjacent to the district.

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Irrigation Leader

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Collaborative Colorado Group Works to Maintain Water Use, Bolster Fish Recovery With Selenium Reduction Efforts For over two decades, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has worked to recover endangered fish populations in the basin. However, the gains made by the program may be adversely impacted by elevated selenium concentrations, which are thought to harm the reproductive success of these fishes. Working collaboratively, federal, state, and local water entities have come together in Colorado to proactively address selenium-related issues.

In the late 1990s, the first voluntary group banded together to study and address selenium in the Lower Gunnison River Basin of Western Colorado. The Gunnison Basin Selenium Task Force was created as a result of a 1997 decision of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission to adopt a new reduced chronic water quality standard of 4.6 parts per billion dissolved selenium.

“That action really galvanized a lot of folks to start paying closer attention, because that was a direct threat to traditional water use,” said Dave Kanzer, senior water resources engineer with the Colorado River Water Conservation District, which has become one of the primary task force organizers. “Our board gave the direction to district staff to get involved with the task force and to be proactive to assess the situation and protect historic water use.”

In small amounts, selenium is an essential trace nutrient for animals and humans. However, elevated concentrations may cause reproductive failures and/or deformities in fish and birds. Efforts to decrease selenium in the Upper Colorado basin within Colorado became necessary to and more urgent when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wrote a biological opinion necessitating selenium control as a basinwide conservation measure.

Since the original Gunnison Basin Selenium Task Force was formed in 1998, participants have worked to reduce selenium concentrations primarily by piping and lining canals. “We have to stop deep percolation of water into subsurface soils, which can mobilize selenium,” said Sonja Chavez de Baca, the task force coordinator. “We’re not taking it out of the streams, but rather keeping it in the soil where it naturally occurs.”

In fact, efforts to understand selenium loading and mobilization began even prior to task force formation, with federal funding provided by Reclamation under the National Irrigation Water Quality Program. Since 1988, the task force estimates up to 5,600 pounds of selenium per year have been reduced due to both on- and off-farm water efficiency improvements, including high-efficiency irrigation application methods, as well as land use changes.

Reductions began even prior to task force formation in 1998, as Reclamation’s National Irrigation Water Quality

Valley of the Lower Gunnison Basin, looking northeast.

Courtesy of the Colorado River Water Conservation District

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Irrigation Leader

Program held meetings and launched a water quality demonstration project.

Not only do irrigation system modernization efforts help to reduce selenium concentrations, but they also improve water service to irrigators. Communicating these added benefits is a critical component of the task force initiative. “We’re looking for win-win situations,” said Chavez de Baca. “We’re trying to educate stakeholders about the benefits of selenium control as opposed to approaching it from a purely regulatory perspective.”

In addition to irrigator outreach efforts, the task force has engaged cities and counties in the region to enlist their support for selenium reduction. Specifically, soil mapping projects have been completed that allow local officials to gauge the potential impact of development and can even assist with landscaping decisions to reduce impacts to water quality.

Despite these successes, FWS issued a Programmatic Biological Opinion (PBO) in 2009 indicating that the continued use of irrigation projects in the basin could result in adverse impacts to endangered fish due to elevated selenium concentrations without additional efforts. To mitigate potential selenium effects, Reclamation, in conjunction with the task force, and numerous other federal, state, and local entities, as well as water users, is in the process of finalizing a formal Selenium Management Program to comply with the provisions of the PBO. “The selenium issue has risen in scope and importance, which has brought more attention and awareness,” said Kanzer. “We’re encouraging entities to think more broadly . . . Even residential uses can have an impact.”

Efforts of the selenium management program include acceleration of existing piping and lining efforts, reduction of nonpoint sources of selenium from urban use, and the development and implementation of technology to control and treat selenium, to the extent possible. In addition, the program will closely monitor water quality and endangered species populations, as well as engage in coordination and outreach efforts with the public and affected stakeholders.

Still, funding remains a challenge. With no single source of funds, the task force relies on a multitude of grants and appropriations from various entities, including federal and state governments. “Now the challenge is managing and coordinating all of these funding sources,” Kanzer said.

For more information on the Gunnison Basin and Grand Valley Selenium Task Forces, visit www.seleniumtaskforce.org.

Information on the Selenium Management Program can also be found on Reclamation’s website: http://www.usbr.gov/uc/wcao/progact/smp/ Irrigation Leader

Liner with geoweb. Courtesy of SC Environmental

Pipeiline nearing completion.

Lining project completed. Courtesy of Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association 9

Roza-Sunnyside Board of Joint Control Water Quality Program Targets Cooperation Through Local Enforcement

I

n 1997, Washington state set total maximum daily load levels for the mouths of wasteways operated by Roza and Sunnyside Irrigation Districts. Aiming to avoid state enforcement of these new standards, the districts worked jointly to develop a local water quality program according to state standards.

“Instead of the state coming in and being the enforcement arm, we thought the districts could set up a sampling program,” said Roza’s operations manager, Tom Monroe.

“We thought we would have better participation from the growers by working directly with them instead of having state personnel on their property.”

The program is designed to take water quality samples of agricultural runoff. Silt levels are tested at a laboratory to check growers’ compliance. If growers have silt levels above a certain threshold, they are required to develop short- and long-term water quality plans. These plans require growers to identify mitigation measures, which may include converting rill irrigation to sprinklers or drip using lowinterest loan funding from the state. Other growers use polyacrylamide to settle silt levels before water leaves the field.

A water quality violation requires the grower to submit a short-term water quality plan. If the grower continues to be out of compliance after submittal of the short-term plan, the appropriate district will reduce its water delivery flow until such time that it is in compliance according to the plan. “Believe it or not, some of the offenders we have most often have been repeat offenders,” said Monroe, noting that most district irrigators have embraced the program.

Initially, however, the program was met with skepticism.

“When we first started the program, we had meetings in the morning and afternoon for three days,” said Monroe.

“Some said their water runoff was cleaner than what the district had delivered to them.” This criticism prompted the districts to take water samples at strategic locations

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within the main canals. The criticism also led the districts to cease farm sampling during storm events, which they believe would not yield samples that are representative of a grower’s compliance with the program.

Additionally, some growers have criticized the districts for testing water that appears to have high silt concentrations without first talking to them. Monroe points out that this would negate the purpose of the program, as the districts need to demonstrate a quick response that will provide growers with an incentive to correct their irrigation practices for the long term, rather than simply addressing isolated incidents.

Overall, Monroe indicated that the locally enforced water quality program yields greater returns than state enforcement would have been able to achieve. “If you have state standards being implemented, districts are far better for landowners to work with than to have a state agency coming on their farms,” he advises other district managers with similar situations. “The program is a lot better received that way.”

For more information on the Roza-Sunnyside Board of Joint Control Water Quality Program, visit www.roza.org/water%20quality.htm.

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Central Platte Natural Resources District Works With Local Farmers to Combat Nitrogen’s Effect on Water Quality

B

y 1988, nearly 500,000 acres of Nebraska’s Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) faced problems with high nitrogen levels in the ground water. On average, testing showed that the acreage had a nitrate-nitrogen level of 19.5 parts per million (ppm), much higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum safe level of 10 ppm.

Recognizing the potential negative effects on ground water in the area, CPNRD used the authority given to the Natural Resources Districts by the state legislature in the Groundwater Management Act and developed a program to reduce the nitrate-nitrogen levels in the ground water.

The legislature authorized a program that has now been running for over two decades and has contributed to a reduction of nitrate-nitrogen to 14–15 ppm on average.

“We’re making progress,” said Ron Bishop, CPNRD General Manager. “You have to recognize that when we started, it was going up one-half ppm each year, and now it’s going down at one-quarter ppm per year. Not only have we stopped the increase, but we’ve started the decline.”

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The program requires area farmers to conduct soil and water sampling prior to fertilizing their fields. Based on the results of the tests, they then use guidelines published by the University of Nebraska to determine the amount of fertilizer they should apply.

Initially, some farmers were not supportive of the need to perform testing prior to fertilizing their fields. “There was resistance in the beginning, but they came around very well when they recognized it is putting money in their pockets,” said Bishop, noting that the money farmers save on reduced fertilizer use far outweighs the cost of the soil and water sampling.

Testing is required for any nitrogen application of greater than 50 pounds per acre. Since the program began, corn growers have significantly reduced application amounts from the generally accepted practice of 200 pounds per acre to only 150 pounds per acre on average.

“We give a recommendation, and it is up to them to follow it,” said Sandy Noecker, CPNRD Data and Compliance Officer, who manages the nitrogen reduction Irrigation Leader

program. “If an area is not coming down in nitrates at all, we will have to monitor it much more closely.”

Thus far, CPNRD has not been required to take more aggressive action to ensure that farmers are taking care to reduce fertilizer use, primarily because farmers see that they can grow the same amount using less nitrogen.

“When they started seeing that they could cut back on fertilizer and still have great yields, they realized this could be a great thing,” said Noecker.

Since its inception, the program has grown to encompass 660,000 acres of farmland, and CPRND maintains a database of soil and water sampling data stretching back to 1988. However, staff time devoted to the program has increased significantly in recent years after the Farm Service Agency began to interpret a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill to prohibit information sharing with state and local government entities.

To manage the program, knowledge of the types of crops planted by farmers and their associated irrigation schedules is necessary to enforce compliance. In the absence of data already collected by the federal government about crop and irrigation schedules, CPNRD must work to replicate this information using its own resources at local taxpayer expense. This process can be cumbersome, as it requires the district to use landowner information housed by the state counties to track down compliance paperwork.

When the Farm Service Agency provided data in the past, CPNRD could approach producers directly without involving landowners, who are sometimes out of state or elderly.

“It made it a lot harder to keep up with the compliance,” Noecker said, noting that landowners who lease their acreage often do not want to be troubled with something that is the producer’s responsibility. “We don’t want to create more havoc in our constituency, but right now it’s about the only way to get that information.”

For more information on the Central Platte Natural Resources District in Grand Island, Nebraska, visit its website at www.cpnrd.org.

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Proposed Nebraska Regulation Reservoir Project Targets Benefits to Hydropower and River Flows

T

he Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) is working on an agreement with three states and the U.S. Department of the Interior to construct two regulating reservoirs in central Nebraska.

The goals of the regulating reservoirs are all related to management of flows in the Platte River. The reservoirs would primarily be used to regulate flows with a goal of reducing shortages and targeting flows in the river for endangered and threatened bird species. Additionally, water from the reservoirs will be used to supplement short duration high flows—or a “pulse”—to provide habitat benefits. Finally, the state of Nebraska will receive credits for offsetting impacts of ground water pumping on stream flow.

“It is kind of a retiming process where you take water, store it, and release it when flows in the river are below target flows,” said Don Kraus, CNPPID General Manager.

The regulating reservoirs will also allow the district to achieve higher efficiencies from operating the J-2 hydropower plant. CNPPID recently adopted a modified release pattern from the plant based on concerns raised about impacts on downstream habitat, which reduced the output of the hydroplant.

“We will be able to store water in the reservoirs and smooth out the peaks and valleys of flows through the hydroplant,” said Kraus of the efficiency the district will gain once the reservoirs are constructed.

The reservoirs are a component of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, which was established in 2006 through a cooperative agreement among Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Interior. Among other goals, the program is seeking to reduce shortages to target flows in the river by 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet per year. Target flows were developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are used to compare river flows and measure progress restoring river flows.

While roughly 80,000 acre-feet of annual flows have already been achieved through projects such as increasing the storage capacity of Pathfinder Reservoir on the North Platte River in Wyoming, further savings are intended to come from additional water projects.

“The regulating reservoirs are one of the projects needed to provide a significant amount of the remaining 50,000–70,000 acre-feet of improvements to target flows,” said Kraus.

The two reservoirs would cover a combined 1,000 acres of land and provide a regulating benefit of 35,000–40,000 acre-feet per year. Feasibility studies are largely complete, and final design and permitting could begin in 2012.

Construction is projected to begin in late 2012 and run through 2014.

For more information about the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, visit www.cnppid.org.

J-2 Regulating Reservoirs The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District 16

Irrigation Leader

Keeping Ag Chemicals Out of Ground Water Requires Education, Inspections, and Regulations

P

ublic opinion polls have shown that safe drinking water is the top environmental concern in the United States, for obvious reasons. Less obvious is what is actually being done to maintain safe water supplies, including in heavily irrigated agricultural regions where chemicals and water are regularly combined during what is often called “chemigation” or “fertigation”—the practice of applying fertilizers or other agricultural chemical to land or crops through an irrigation system, namely center pivots.

The practice is very common in Nebraska because of the prevalence of irrigation; with 8.5 million irrigated acres, Nebraska has more irrigated acres than any other state.

As with ground water regulations that limit agricultural water use in some parts of the state, Nebraska was an early innovator of chemigation regulations. Twenty-five years ago, the state passed its originating chemigation law to ensure safe water supplies, and it continues to be a national leader. Last year alone, Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) across the state that regulate and monitor ground water inspected more than 10,000 irrigation systems to make sure valves and other equipment were operating properly to prevent agricultural chemicals from back-flowing or otherwise entering ground water supplies.

Nebraska has a two-tiered permitting and certification system that requires both the users and regulators to take action to

prevent ground water contamination.

Under Nebraska’s chemigation law, users of chemigation systems are required to obtain permits prior to operating their chemigation systems. To obtain a permit, the applicable NRD must inspect an irrigation system to make sure it is properly equipped to apply chemicals. Six pieces of equipment are required on chemigation units: irrigation pipeline check valve, chemical injection line valve, inspection port, low-pressure drain, vacuum relief valve, and an interlock between the injection unit and irrigation pump plant. Last year alone, more than 30,000 permits were issued in Nebraska.

To ensure that the applicators of chemicals have sufficient knowledge in the use of chemigation, the state requires them to be certified. Certification is attained by attending educational sessions on the safe use of chemigation that are conducted by the University of Nebraska. Applicators must also prove that that they listened during class; they have to pass a written test.

Further, they have to go back to school every 4 years to become recertified.

Chemigation is a heavily researched topic, having been the source of approximately 50 academic studies and research papers. While no amount of research, precautions, regulations, and education can prevent every possible instance of contamination, chemigation regulations in Nebraska and elsewhere have successfully helped reduce instances of contamination.

Upper Republican NRD employee John Lemon inspects valves on a center pivot to ensure it can safely be used to fertilize a field.

Irrigation Leader

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Texas Irrigation Expo Aims to Promote Water Conservation Measures in Rio Grande Valley

W

hile much of Texas is in the midst of a crippling drought, the Rio Grande Valley has not yet been impacted by reduced water supplies. However, area irrigators are already working on water conservation mechanisms that may help them cope with the effects of low water availability. The upcoming Texas Irrigation Expo, to be held December 9–10 in McAllen, Texas, is a critical component of this initiative.

The expo is the educational component of Texas’s Agricultural Water Conservation Demonstration Initiative (ADI). Six years ago, Harlingen Irrigation District received $3.7 million in grant funding to implement the program, which has led to water delivery efficiency advances in the Rio Grande Valley.

“We were searching for a way to disseminate all the data and information about managing water more efficiently,” said Tom McLemore, project manager for Harlingen. “At the time, there was no other expo in the Rio Grande Valley.”

Since receiving the ADI grant, the district has worked with area farmers to develop onfarm water conservation approaches that allowed them to keep expenses flat, or even reduce them. “We partnered with them, gave them the soil moisture technology, and just watched what they did,” said McLemore. “We were looking for ways to save water, maintain—and sometimes increase—their bottom line.”

Now in its second year, the expo serves as a showcase for the strategies developed through the ADI. However, it is also a draw for irrigation technology manufacturers to visit an area of Texas that does not often receive their traffic. This affords area farmers the opportunity to interact directly with suppliers that provide technology to help them gain water use efficiency.

Water conservation efforts under the ADI continue even though the Rio Grande Valley is not currently contending with the same drought issues as the rest of the state. The program was originally contemplated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the area began to cope with water shortages, but subsequent higher flows lessened the immediate need.

“It wasn’t the wolf knocking at the door anymore . . . but we’re still looking at conservation in preparation for when we do run out,” said McLemore, noting that infrastructure investment is required to achieve savings. “We can’t just conserve water overnight.”

During last year’s expo, organizers largely targeted large farmers and irrigation districts.

However, this year’s program will also include a section that focuses on homeowners and small growers. “This is our first attempt at including homeowners,” McLemore said, indicating that they hope to attract families with the inclusion of the Texas Farm Bureau agriculture demonstration trailer.

Overall, the event will feature speakers from Reclamation, the Texas Department of Agriculture, the International Boundary Water Commission, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Texas Water Development Board, among others. Organizers have also changed the venue and structure of the expo to better accommodate transitions between speakers and exhibitors. This year, exhibitors will surround the presentation area, and there will be 30-minute breaks following each speaking segment to allow attendees time to see the booths.

Organizers plan to continue the annual expo until at least 2014, the final year of the ADI, and hope to grow the program to include a broader range of participants and interests. “Our philosophy has always been that the key is education,” said McLemore.

The 2011 Texas Irrigation Expo will be held December 9–10 at the McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, Texas. For more information, visit its website at www.texasirrigationexpo.org.

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Irrigation Leader

WESTCAS Celebrates 20 Years as Voice of Water Quality for the Arid West

By Ed Curley

D

uring a series of meetings with Reclamation in the early 1990s, water district managers from across the West began to realize they would draw greater strength in responding to federal and state regulatory issues by joining ranks. They recognized that despite their differences, water project operators in the arid western states have many interests in common, and a combined effort would be beneficial going forward.

This thought process culminated in the formation of the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS) in 1992. Twenty years later, the organization has grown to include over 100 water and irrigation districts, as well as regional water and wastewater agencies, from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas.

Our mission is threefold. First, we aim to educate our membership, primarily to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to keep abreast of major trends. Industry consultants are active participants in WESTCAS and help our diverse membership to remain state-of-the-art.

Second, we collectively work to understand and address regulatory measures impacting water quality interests.

WESTCAS counts many of the best people working on these issues as members, and the organization is always at the table when new water quality rules are discussed.

Third, WESTCAS works on federal legislative measures that impact the operation and funding of western water projects.

I have always viewed the organization as a large family of helpful contacts and useful experts who aim to provide a support network. WESTCAS holds meetings each spring, summer, and fall, which allow members to form a bond. Meetings feature presentations and discussions on a variety of issues, as well as participation by national figures.

Importantly, WESTCAS strives to promote an interactive atmosphere. We utilize a less formal question-and-answer dialog format to maximize group participation, rather than the typical lecture arrangement of many conferences. Additionally, new

Irrigation Leader

members are assigned a more senior member to guide them through their first meeting.

WESTCAS members are evenly split between municipal and rural interests, with both local and regional entities providing representatives at our meetings.

The common thread among them is their status as entities dealing with water in states where the average rainfall is 12 inches or less. Additionally, engineering firms regularly participate in our meetings, giving them the opportunity to share knowledge both formally and informally with WESTCAS members.

Despite these diverse interests, WESTCAS members strive to work together and support common goals.

This strategy is particularly important when dealing with regulatory and legislative initiatives, as we are able to combine our efforts and expertise. There is simply too much going on for any individual entity to track everything. Further, a collaborative response is always a preferred alternative, particularly when dealing with complex technical issues that may benefit from detailed analysis drawn from a variety of perspectives.

Through its 20 years, WESTCAS has grown to become one of the preeminent voices in water policy. We look forward to a continued role as a leading voice in the water community and invite other organizations to participate in our continued efforts.

Ed Curley is the president of the Western Coalition of Arid States and is the strategic planning manager for the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department in Tucson, Arizona. For more information on WESTCAS, visit its website at www.westcas.org.

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District Focus 24

Delta Lake Irrigation District Grapples With Change, Border Security

By Troy Allen

T

hough founded more than two decades prior, Texas’s Delta Lake Irrigation District did not have access to surface water supplied by the Rio Grande River until 1938. At that time, the district acquired a 400-foot-wide strip of land leading to the river that ultimately became the backbone of its infrastructure. Today, Delta Lake is one of the largest agricultural water districts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and serves more than 82,000 acres.

However, the district is coping with aging infrastructure and a system that was not designed to handle the volume of water it now carries. In fact, the original plan called for irrigating the whole district every 30 days. Our current timeline is more than twice as fast, irrigating the entire acreage every 14 days.

To relieve the stresses of this expanded responsibility, Delta Lake has worked to modernize its infrastructure in recent years through piping and pumping projects. Each year, we designate from $500,000 to $750,000 in district funds to support ongoing construction initiatives. This contribution is supplemented by state and federal dollars that allow the district to maximize its investment.

In recent years, the district has buried between 5 and 6 miles of pipe each year in an effort to conserve water. Each mile of pipe saves about 1 acre-foot of water per month. Additionally, Delta Lake is encouraging on-farm irrigation improvements to further aid water conservation. In an area with high winds and dry conditions during the day, the district is working with farmers to implement the best solution to these issues.

Despite these efforts, Delta Lake irrigators are in the midst of one of the most difficult challenges they have seen in decades. Texas is experiencing a major drought, and our district is no exception. So far, areas serviced by the district have received between 7.4 and 13.5 inches of rain this year, generally less than half of our average annual rainfall of 24 inches. Unless weather patterns dramatically shift, the district will likely run out of water to deliver by the middle of next year.

In addition to these water management issues, Delta Lake’s location near the border with Mexico presents unique challenges. Our area is certainly no stranger to secret border crossings. For years,

we have seen people move through the area who intended to immigrate for the purpose of finding work in the United States. Those we encountered were generally friendly and did not pose an issue to district operations.

Yet in recent years, we have seen a shift in the type of activity occurring on the border. Those seeking a new life in the United States have been replaced by drug smugglers who pose a risk to the security of district employees operating in the area. It is scary to think that those working to keep our irrigation operations running overnight may someday encounter a smuggler who did not want to be seen. Employee safety remains our priority, and we will remain vigilant in this regard.

Troy Allen is the general manager of Delta Lake Irrigation District in Edcouch, Texas. He can be reached by phone at (956) 262-2101, or by e-mail at troy@deltalakeid.org.

Irrigation Leader

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District Focus 26

Strawberry Water User’s Association Concerned Transfer Proposal Will Harm Small-Acreage Irrigators

By Jeremy Sorensen

charge is federal finances, it is difficult to think of this proposal as anything other than a big new federal tax n October, Reclamation proposed to repeal an by nonelected officials. existing policy (WTR P02) and promulgate Strawberry Water User's Association is grateful two new policies (PEC P05 and PEC P09) and that Reclamation chose to extend its comment period two new Directives and Standards (PEC 05-01 and on the proposed new policies, and directives and PEC 09-01). These are available on the Reclamation standards, to November 30. This extension will provide website. The new policies and directives are a bit the association and others the opportunity to study the confusing, but seem to say there will be new “M&I” proposals and provide meaningful feedback on their charges, at “market rates,” for use of Reclamation consequences. “irrigation” water on anything less than 10 acres of I encourage other irrigation system operators in the commercially viable agriculture. Market rates seem to West to study these proposals. Please do so carefully. be tied to Reclamation contracts in the area, which We made some incorrect initial assumptions. For for the most recent Reclamation project units in example, we initially assumed the proposed new tax our area will be over $300 an acre-foot each year. would not apply to paid-out projects like ours.

Approximately 85 percent of our water users would Reclamation is seeking a broad spectrum of likely suddenly pay a large multiple of what they public involvement, so please take the time to give currently pay. Since part of the rationale for this new Reclamation the views of irrigators. Also, please contact your state’s representatives in Washington and let them know what you think. Ultimately, Congress directs Reclamation activities and budgets.

The Strawberry Valley Project (SVP) was authorized in 1905 and finished in 1915. In that era, the United States entered into individual contracts, mostly water right applications, with water users directly. There were also SVP contracts with three cities under the 1906 Town Sites Act, and contracts with two irrigation districts serving two other cities. The rights and obligations of the United States under those contracts were later assigned to the Strawberry Water User's Association. The association assumed repayment of Strawberry Water User Association's Spanish Fork River Diversion Dam.

I

Irrigation Leader

the entire SVP and the responsibility of operating and maintaining the project, except for two canals that are the responsibility of other water users organizations.

Approximately half of the original U.S. SVP contracts specifically described parcels to be “irrigated” with SVP water that were less than 10 acres in size. For virtually a century, our understanding, and Reclamation practice, was reflected in the following statement in a 1994 letter from the Reclamation Provo Area Office Manager: “When SVP was authorized small lots, gardens, etc., were legitimate uses of irrigation water.”

Written Reclamation policy interpreting Reclamation law has long said that uses of Reclamation water on the same lands, without treatment, is not a “transfer” or a “conversion,” even if the water is used for the type of irrigation that reflects development.

We believe that some of the rationale for the new tax is not helpful to the critical need for a better-funded Bureau of Reclamation. The new tax seems focused on the notion that there was a subsidy that was unfair to citizens who are not water users that must be reclaimed. We know the SVP created wealth, jobs, and vibrant local economies that otherwise would never have been. That economic activity has been subject to federal taxation for almost a century now. We believe the SVP has long returned more in federal tax revenues each year than the original construction costs, and far more than any so-called interest subsidy. For the sake of Reclamation funding, we urge celebration of the great value that Reclamation and Reclamation projects have provided to the nation as whole. The subsidy notion conflicts with this important message.

When Congress intended the so-called subsidy (the interest component for early projects) to be recaptured in the form of full cost billings, Congress knew how to say it. That took the form of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA). For paid-out projects, “[t]he ownership and full cost pricing limitations of this subchapter [the RRA] and the ownership limitations provided in any other provision of the Federal reclamation law shall not apply. . . .” 43 U.S.C.A. § 390mm(a).

In many cases, SVP water users are weekend farmers who will not be able to continue operations with the proposed new tax. Additionally, generational transfers of farmland will be jeopardized. Many area landowners who would choose to divide their land when passing it to their children may do otherwise, so as to not trigger the proposed tax.

The proposed policies will create inequities. The three cities with 1906 SVP Town Sites Act contracts paid their share of the SVP construction costs exactly as the irrigators did. We understand that the cities will not face the proposed tax on water available under the original

1906 Town Sites Act contracts.

The SVP has many demands for capital for aged infrastructure. Users can pay only so much. This new tax will siphon off what little funding is available.

These proposals also raise important concerns for water conservation and conjunctive use. The Strawberry Water User's Association, in concert with canal companies and local municipalities, has worked hard to deliver nonpotable water to irrigate lawns using pressurized systems, which reduces the demand on the cities’ limited potable ground water supply. Many current users may turn to potable water if forced to pay higher rates for SVP water. Ground water mining is a problem in a portion of the SVP service area.

The proposed new tax seems to conflict with one of the principles of Water 2025, which emphasizes “eliminating institutional barriers to storage and delivery of water to other uses.”

The proposed new policies appear to conflict with the announced policy of Congress: “It is declared to be the policy of the Congress to recognize the primary responsibilities of the States and local interests in developing water supplies for domestic, municipal, industrial and other purposes and that the Federal Government should participate and cooperate with States and local interests in developing such water supplies in connection with the construction, maintenance, and operation of Federal navigation, flood control, irrigation, or multiple purposes projects.” 43 U.S.C.A. §390b(a).

In Utah, all water in the state belongs to the people of the state. The Reclamation project water users hold beneficial title to the underlying Reclamation project water right. Reclamation holds nominal title for the use and benefit of the water users. Under Section 8 of the 1902 Reclamation Act, state law governs the use of water released from a Reclamation dam, absent a clear expression to the contrary by Congress. The proposed new federal tax on the use of a state-owned and -regulated resource is simply not appropriate.

Please get involved and make your views known to Reclamation and your representatives in Congress and the Senate. Thank you.

Jeremy Sorensen is the general manager of the Strawberry Water User's Association in Payson, Utah. He can be reached by phone at (801) 465-9273, or by e-mail at Jeremy@strawberrywater.com.

Water Law

Here Comes the Judge:

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Pending Clean Water Act Cases

By Robert S. Lynch

S

ometimes we get so busy worrying about what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing to us or threatening to do to us, and what legislation Congress is considering and might or might not pass, that we forget that the third branch of government, the judiciary, may be moving ahead in a fashion that outstrips either the executive branch or the legislative branch. What the judges are doing may be more far reaching than either the specific regulations EPA is considering or a particular bill working its way through Congress.

A case in point: Pending before the U.S. Supreme Court is a petition for certiorari seeking to overturn a decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case called Northwest Environmental Defense Center v.

Brown. In that case, the 9th circuit ruled that ditches and culverts that drain stormwater from forest roads are “point sources.” As you will remember, it is just such “point sources” that are regulated under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, often called the 402 program after the section of the statute. Why would we care?

The Clean Water Act was originally passed in October 1972. As the newly formed EPA was being pulled together, it became clear rather quickly that it had no real way of regulating runoff from farms or forests because the Clean Water Act definition of “point source” seemed to be aimed at things like pipes and other manmade conduits. What resulted from this realization was an amendment to the Clean Water Act that exempted irrigation return flow and agricultural stormwater discharges from the NPDES permit requirement and shifted management of those discharges to the nonpoint source regulatory scheme under Title 3 of the act. This was applied to silvaculture, which had already seen some regulatory relief. Thus, to an extent, silvaculture and agriculture have been married for decades to a concept that “agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture” are not “point sources.”

The forest products industry, the U.S. Forest Service, and others have consistently treated, as has EPA,

silvacultural runoff from forest roads as included within the concept of “agricultural stormwater discharges.” EPA has issued regulations to that effect as well.

Why do we care? The answer is that we must care, because the 9th circuit said that the distinction between a point and nonpoint source discharge is whether it runs off naturally or is collected, channeled, and discharged through a system of ditches, culverts, channels, and similar conveyances. In other words, it’s not what the water is but how it is traveling that makes a difference.

Fast forward to the next challenge—a farming operation with agricultural runoff that ends up in a ditch and is therefore subject to permitting. Does that include the ditch alongside the county road next to the farm? Does it include the arroyo on the patch of desert next to the farm? I think you get my drift. What has happened to the forest products industry, at least in the 9th circuit, can happen to us. That is why we care about this case.

By the time you read this, the response to the petition for certiorari will have been filed. The deadline is November 18, 2011. It will take some time for the Court to consider whether to take the case or not. We can all hope it will, because that would give the Supreme Court the opportunity to articulate a narrower view of the reach of the NPDES permit and whether it is the nature of the runoff and not where it ends up that determines the permitting requirement.

Something to keep an eye on.

We should also keep an eye on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Many of you are aware of the longstanding fight over the application of the Clean Water Act to the Florida Everglades and the various water movements including comingling of waters.

Sometimes this is referred to as “water transfers,” but it is basically the combining of water in advance of its delivery for beneficial use or municipal treatment.

During the Bush administration, EPA came out with a rule that said that the comingling of water, by itself, did not generate the need for an NPDES permit. Lo and behold, EPA got sued. Last year, the 11th circuit ruled that EPA was in charge of interpreting the Clean Water Act; that its interpretation of the act could not Irrigation Leader

be overturned if it had a logical premise, even if the court didn’t agree with it; and that the Bush administration interpretation was to be upheld. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court by the intervenors on the winning (EPA’s) side on the theory that this court would agree with the 11th circuit and that would end it.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decided not to play.

So, ever industrious, the environmental groups and their friends petitioned the 11th circuit to overturn the rule for different reasons. They petitioned after attempting to get the matter sent back to the Federal District Court in Florida, where they thought they had a friendlier forum.

In any event, they are still at it. The federal government responded on October 27, 2011, and a large group of friends of the court (amici curiae) filed a brief as this article was being written (November 2, 2011). The amici include the National Water Resources Association and many of the western water providers we all deal with or participate in. This is only fitting, since the environmental petitioners spent so much time in their petition talking about the West, an ironic subject for consideration by three judges sitting in Atlanta.

Nevertheless, the game is afoot. I rather believe that the environmentalists will not pass up the opportunity to reply, and then it will be up to the court to make the next move. Whatever it does will affect virtually everyone who deals with water, not only in the West but in the entire United States.

So, the moral of the story is that we cannot just worry about what EPA is doing to us or what Congress may or may not do. We have to watch where the courts are going as well, because their effect on us can be much more immediate and certain.

Robert S. Lynch is an attorney in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona. His firm's website is: www.rslynch-az.com.

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29

The Innovators

Stormwater Collection Provides Water Saving Opportunities to Reduce Runoff Events

I

n many municipalities across the country, stormwater infrastructure systems are overburdened, and local governments do not have the resources to improve their ability to capture water from large rain events.

Responding to the challenge of conserving this water has filtered down to individual building owners, who are increasingly installing stormwater storage tanks.

“Municipalities do not have the money to maintain stormwater resources,” said Harvey Mabry of Water Storage Tanks Inc., which manufactures and distributes CorGal Water Tanks.

The principle behind stormwater collection is simple. Water from large-scale weather events is collected and rerouted to irrigation, which allows it to percolate back through the soil into the ground water supply. This trend has become particularly strong in Texas, where an ongoing drought has left many municipalities searching for alternative water conservation measures.

“Austin and San Antonio are very strong on not letting any stormwater leave the property,” said Mabry. “It just has to be done.”

Beyond municipal uses, stormwater collection has become particularly popular with winemakers, who use as much as eight bottles of water to make one bottle of wine. Collected stormwater is often used to clean processing equipment. Additionally, producers who grow both organic and nonorganic crops are required to use large amounts of water to clean equipment when transitioning between the two. Collected stormwater serves as a valuable supplement to avoid using other water supplies.

Mabry indicated that installations of CorGal tanks have been made in both new buildings and old buildings undergoing renovations. For example, his company has recently been involved in two federal building projects.

One involved installing tanks at a new Washington state building housing City of Tacoma Environmental Services labs and offices, University of Washington– Tacoma researchers, and the Puget Sound Partnership; in this building, collected water will be used for irrigation and toilet flushing. A second project involves the Edith Green Federal building in Oregon that is undergoing a major renovation.

Water tanks for stormwater collection have also become popular among builders of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings, which aim to promote environmentally conscious design. LEED builders believe stormwater capture is an important component of ensuring water use efficiency.

The water savings associated with municipal stormwater capture help to reduce demand on the overall water supply to the benefit of municipal and agricultural interests alike.

CorGal Water Tanks are designed using corrugated and galvanized steel, which is first lined with a geotextile pre-liner that both protects the main liner and wicks moisture away from the interior of the tank walls. A flexible membrane liner is then installed to contain the water.

For more information on CorGal Water Tanks, visit www.corgaltanks.com.

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