The water supply for farmers in the Treasure Valley region of Southwestern Idaho and Eastern Oregon is a mixed bag.
Many farmers will see their irrigation water flow until the first part of October, as normal. But for others, the season could end much earlier.
For those on the short end of the water stick this year, a recent heat wave that saw high temperatures top 100 degrees for a record nine straight days didn’t help.
“The hot weather certainly didn’t help us; it was really starting to takes its toll,” said Jay Chamberlin, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District, which supplies water to farmers in Eastern Oregon.
Water demand went up by at least 20 percent during that heat wave, he said, and water loss to evaporation and canal seepage was about 45 percent greater than normal.
OID will likely stop delivering water the first week of August, two months earlier than during a decent water year, Chamberlin said.
Farmers on the Idaho side who receive irrigation water from Water District 67, the Weiser River system, are also facing an early shutoff this year. The district began drawing from water it has stored in reservoirs on June 9, one month ahead of normal.
Farmers on the lower end of the Weiser basin will run out of irrigation water in the next couple of weeks “and the rest of us aren’t far behind them,” said watermaster Brandi Horton.
The heat exacerbated the situation and water deliveries will likely stop the first week of August, she said.
“Evaporation loss from that triple-digit heat we experienced was astronomical,” Horton said. “The end of the season is coming real early this year.”
But officials from other irrigation districts say the water should flow until the first part of October.
“The heat was devastating” but “we’re still looking to get into October,” said Alan Newbill, president of the Pioneer Irrigation District board of directors.
Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District, the valley’s largest, started drawing from reservoir storage three weeks earlier than normal this year. The district still expects to have a normal season but will likely end the year with virtually no carryover water, said water superintendent Greg Curtis.
“It looks like we will be able to have a full season; I think we’ll at least get to the end of September,” he said. “But it looks like it’s going to take every bit of storage water we have to do that.”
The Boise Project Board of Control, which delivers water to five irrigation districts and 165,000 acres on the Boise River system, expects to continue delivering water until the first part of October, said BPBC Manager Tim Page.
A series of May rainstorms, as well as conservative use of water by farmers who planted more crops that use less water this year, helped significantly, he said.
“I think that made a difference (and) I suspect we will have some carryover water at the end of the year,” Page said.
Source: www.capitalpress.com