U.S. Water News Online
BUHL, Idaho -- There is not enough Snake River water to go around and federal officials are exploring ways to pay some farmers to forgo their crops to free up more water for others.
"Somehow we have to be able to document an overall benefit to the aquifer. Otherwise we're throwing away taxpayers' dollars with no environmental benefits," said John Johnson, deputy administer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's federal farm programs.
He was a panelist at a public meeting in Buhl over the water shortage in the Snake River Basin. The river originates in northwest Wyoming.
Idaho legislators also are meeting regularly to find a solution after spring water users holding older water rights clashed this spring with groundwater users with junior rights.
The government currently pays growers to idle their land through the Conservation Reserve Program to prevent erosion and help wildlife. Officials are now considering paying farmers not to grow crops on other land to free up more water. It would be part of a multifaceted solution.
Groundwater users are proposing a total lease rate of about $100 an acre to take land irrigated by groundwater out of production. It would require state and local matches totaling 20 percent.
Spring users below the canyon rim who would benefit from increased spring flows say they are supportive of the program, but add that in some ways it rings hollow.
Kay Hardy, president of Idaho Trout Co. which operates a commercial trout farm, said it rewards financial solutions to junior water users who under Idaho water law should be curtailed rather than to spring users with senior water rights who are short on water.
Reducing groundwater consumption not only would aid spring users, but flows in the Snake River that must meet minimum levels for other water needs such as providing flows for salmon migrations.
The federal government already leases dry farmland in Idaho through the Conservation Reserve Program. The average rental rate in 2003 was about $39 an acre. Irrigated land is more valuable and would require higher rental rates.
Groundwater users are proposing that the program initially enroll up to 20,000 acres in Jerome, Gooding, Lincoln, Minidoka and Blaine counties and in targeted areas of Cassia, Twin Falls and Elmore counties. They suggest the program eventually expand to between 40,000 and 50,000 acres.
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