Western States Water Council 2001 Report

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recharge is around 7.5Maf and about half that is incidental to irrigation. At one time the accepted irrigation practice was to divert and apply enough water to bring the water table up to the root zone. The advent of sprinkler irrigation systems in the 1960s significantly reduced labor, energy demands and water use — but also greatly reduced the artificially enhanced recharge, while increasing ground water pumping. Today nearly 75% of the land is irrigated with sprinklers and center pivots, which can be run remotely from a laptop computer. The impact on the aquifer has been dramatic, with discharges down from a peak of 6,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) in the 1950s to 5,200 cfs today. Conflicts between senior surface water rights and junior ground water users had also grown as changes in the nature of use and the hydrologic connection between surface and ground waters have become apparent. The state was in the difficult position of trying to define the impacts of junior uses on senior rights and administer both according to priority. Moreover, state water law provides that senior water users may not make a "futile call" for water where shutting off junior users would not make a significant amount of water available to the senior users. In the case of ground water, the impacts of pumping and shutting down the pumps had a delayed temporal effect. The state had used a ground water flow model, jointly developed with participation by all the affected parties, to determine expected temporal impacts and make decisions. Further, Idaho's state water plan and water policies are designed to "promote the optimum management and utilization of the state's water resources," with a goal to "secure greater productivity, in both monetary and nonmonetary terms, from existing water supplies." This raised the issue of how best to use ESPA ground water resources, while protecting senior surface water rights. On April 19, Karl Dreher issued an order in response to a call for water from seven canal companies and irrigation districts with senior surface water rights in the Magic Valley that would curtail the exercise of all ground water uses with a priority date of February 27, 1979 that affect the irrigation of 80,810 acres of land in two water districts over the ESPA. The ground water districts had until April 29 to try and find 133,400 of to satisfy the call with "replacement water," rather than curtail their use, and must file their plans with IDWR for approval. Plans would be reviewed and approved or disallowed by May 6. Orders responding to other delivery calls in the Thousand Springs were expected in the coming weeks. Bill Rinne, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation and Director of Operations, also addressed members. He noted that the current system of dams and reservoirs was doing an "amazing job," given the drought, in continuing to meet water supply and delivery demands. The Colorado River system can hold about a 4 -year supply, and was still about half full after years of drought. Is the drought over? We don't know. What will happen after the drought breaks? Will we still have water supply issues? Do we have enough water? These questions had yet to be answered, but they were making "pretty good" progress improving water management. He described Interior's Water 2025 program, Reclamation's Field Services Program and related Challenge Grants. He also discussed the critical need for investment in aging infrastructure, dam safety and drought response authority, as well as other priorities. The Council adopted a position statement in the form of a letter to Senator Pete Domenici and other western congressmen calling for enactment of S. 648, S. 802 and H.R. 1386. The latter bills refer to the National Drought Preparedness Act, which would establish a National Drought Council and a national drought planning and preparedness policy.' The former bill would extend authorities in the Reclamation States Drought Assistance Act. The Council also recommended changes to be forwarded (by request) to the Western Governors' Association (WGA) with respect to an updated resolution on Arid West Water Quality Issues. 'Western States Water, Issue #1613, April 15, 2005. 18