C150069 Benefits & Potential Roles Report

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 3 THE FUTURE ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL WATER SUPPLIERS IN SECONDARY WATER MANAGEMENT Mutual ditch and irrigation companies and irrigation districts have a deeply-rooted history in Colorado. Most ditches have been in operation for over 100 years. In the past, and continuing to the present, the operational approach to these enterprises has been appropriate to the rural farming community. They hire stafflocally, stockholders or landowners attend meetings regularly, and community attitudes ensure that cooperation is strong. The organizations have performed well, and, for the most part, satisfaction with water deliveries has been adequate, except perhaps in drought years. However, irrigated agriculture in the western United States is at a crossroad, due not only to reduced levels of farm income frequently experienced by growers, but equally to rapid changes in land use and increased competition over water supplies. Although this report is not designed to address these issues, it is argued that secondary water supply development in the region has an important bearing on the future of irrigated agriculture. We will attempt to show how the Colorado Water Conservation Board's water resource project lending program, and the 2002 Farm Bill, may provide opportunities for canal companies and irrigation districts to enter into secondary water service, while preserving the irrigation system and improving agricultural production and conserving water at the same time. New Challenges There is an urgent need to look at innovations occurring among agricultural water suppliers in the Rocky Mountain region. In recent years, canal companies and irrigation districts have had to address issues with which they have had little previous experience. Urban encroachment along canal facilities is a prime example. Urban encroachment has been accompanied by the dividing up of farmland, changing shareholder makeup, water stock sales and increased ownership of canals and company stock by municipal interests. Liability issues have increased, associated with new residential subdivisions located near ditches running through the area, along with a wide array of water delivery changes and financial and water delivery record keeping burdens. Agricultural water organizations or systems live in a different world today with the onset of urbanization, the environmental movement, and changing agricultural production practices and needs (Figures 19-22).1 Nevertheless, Colorado ditch companies continue their principal historical function of providing irrigation water to farms. They must ensure that their irrigation facilities are protected. Often the best way to accomplish this is to require that new water users coming into the canal company or irrigation district service area follow the same governing principles and usages as the traditional agricultural water users. Many of these new water users are small shareholders (or small landowners in the case of irrigation districts) operating recreational farms or living on large estate lots. Their water needs are often quite different. Nevertheless, the agricultural water supplier must address these new needs. Here is where pressurized secondary water supply enters the picture. Many ofthese changed water needs can best be met by pressurized piped water deliveries in small quantities. Traditional surface irrigation as practiced in agriculture is not appropriate in timing and quantity and probably would waste considerable water in the process of irrigating small parcels of urban 23