Bingham farmer concerned about possible water curtailment

BLACKFOOT, Idaho (KIFI) - Adam Young grew up on his family's farm outside of Blackfoot and now he helps run it.

The farm's irrigation runs completely off of groundwater, and like many other family farms in southeast Idaho, it faces the threat of curtailment.

"A curtailment would be devastating. There's no doubt about it that nobody in this area would survive a widespread curtailment, including us," said Young. "It would shut everything off. That would have widespread effects on the community that goes beyond even just me and my family or the other families who farm out here. It would affect everyone."

Adam's grandfather homesteaded the land back in 1952, farming barley, hay, and alfalfa for dairies in the Magic Valley.

He says if the water were curtailed it wouldn't just impact farms like his but industries throughout the state.

"Not only would it harm those businesses or those industries that are adjacent to agriculture or involved in agriculture," said Young. "Just imagine what it will do to the restaurants and to the grocery stores and to everything else in a community when the backbone of that community is removed."

The curtailment is the result of a call from surface water users in the twin falls area.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources has said that groundwater users can avoid the curtailment if they enter into an approved mitigation agreement.

But many groundwater users in east Idaho believe the mitigation agreements unfairly favor water users in Twin Falls.

According to the Eastern Idaho Water Rights Coalition, a new methodology from the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) would put 84% of groundwater users in Eastern Idaho at risk of curtailment.

Young says while in a good year they can purchase water to supplement what they lose through mitigation, in a dry year they may not have that option.

"The problem lies in and every year in the future," said Young. "Department officials(IDWR) have acknowledged that in a dry year it may be impossible to procure the water needed to be able to comply with those mitigation plans  in an average year."

While other farmers have suggested legislative action, Adam believes the framework of a solution is already in place.

He says farmers in Twin Falls and the Magic Valley areas would have enough water if the canal companies were more effective in transporting water to the pumps. But the current methodology from the IDWR doesn't push them to do so.

"It acts as a disincentive for these canals to become more efficient," said Young. "And they know that."

"We don't expect them to voluntarily give up water that the state has given them. But we do expect the state to put rules into place that respect a balanced approach, one that works for Idaho."

"The department's primary goal and all of this should be to ensure that everybody gets the water that they need," reasoned Young.