As California and much of the southwest United States continue to cope with record drought conditions, irrigated agriculture throughout the country awaits clarity on new regulations coming from the U.S. EPA regarding clean water.
Will the Republican-led Congress alleviate any of these restrictions? Will the new groundwater regulations in California help secure this resource for current and future generations? And finally, what water-focused “curveballs” will irrigated agriculture see in 2015?
First, let’s look at California. Specifically at the issues surrounding the drought and what’s in store for 2015. The drought of 2014 was the worst California has experienced in generations. In many cases, growers dealt with a water allocation of 0 percent and were forced to drill for groundwater in order to keep their farms alive.
It just so happens that California is one of the few states in the country that does not regulate groundwater (or at least hadn’t throughout the worst of the drought conditions). Now California is in the beginning stages of regulating groundwater, and we are finally seeing rain and snowpack coming in (knock on wood). The $10 million question is whether this will be enough to bring California out of their record drought. One thing is certain: regardless of the amount of rain and snow California receives over the winter months, major policy changes need to happen in the Golden State.
California has about 7.5 million irrigated acres in production. Yet, growers use about 23.4 million acre-feet of water each year. This is the most of any state. This is mainly due to the fact that about 4.5 million of the 7.5 million irrigated acres are irrigated using gravity, or flood, irrigation. Many of California’s growers rely on neighboring growers using flood irrigation as a source for their irrigation water. However, in a state that has a shrinking water supply; California needs to invest in major changes to its water infrastructure to allow for the more efficient use of water by growers.
Endangered species continue to take center stage in California as the amount of water set aside for the delta smelt drives a bigger wedge between environmentalists and growers who rely on water pumped from the Bay Delta. Everyone who counts on California agriculture for food or jobs has a stake in this discussion. This is why Congress will once again take up a California drought-relief bill, which will focus mainly on the implementation of the Endangered Species Act in the Bay Delta.
Now let’s move eastward to the Ogallala Aquifer, or the High Plains Aquifer. This aquifer continues to be a focal point for many federal and state policymakers. Recently, the U.S. Geologic Service released a report that highlighted the fact that the levels of the Ogallala are continuing to decrease. However, in Nebraska, which has about 8.3 million acres of irrigated farmland (the most in the United States), the Ogallala levels are either rising or staying the same, even though many Nebraska farms rely on groundwater as their water source for irrigation.
Finally, we end in Washington, D.C., where all eyes will be on the EPA and whether the Obama Administration continues to move forward with the proposed Waters of the United States rule, which provides clarity to the Clean Water Act. Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the scope of its authority has been tied up in various court cases. The central component to these cases was to determine what exactly a “navigable source” of water is. With this in mind, the EPA determined that the scope of the Clean Water Act should encompass “all waters” and outlined various exemptions throughout the proposed rule. As one can imagine, regardless of the exemptions, this expansion of authority caused great concern for U.S. agriculture.
Specifically relating to irrigation water use, the Clean Water Act does not apply to groundwater. However, once groundwater is pumped and stored on-site, the new rule may provide jurisdiction over this water under the scope of the Clean Water Act.
The EPA received more than a million comments regarding this proposed rule. We anticipate the Republican-controlled Congress to stop this new rule from taking effect as well. With these two key factors in play, we anticipate that this “battle” is far from over.
All-in-all, there is much to be proud of in the irrigation industry. Whether it’s assisting growers with higher yields or helping conserve our natural resources, the irrigation machines, systems and technologies used in agriculture are getting better by the day. It’s an exciting time for the industry and we are looking forward to working with policymakers, regulators and our customers in telling our positive story.
Editor’s note: Farner is the government and public affairs director for the Irrigation Association.