Irrigation Leader February 2014 by Water Strategies

Volume 5 Issue 2

February 2014

Ted Diehl, 44 Years As Manager of North Side Canal Company

A Successful Workshop By Kris Polly

positive messages, and working with members WORKSHOP of the media. It was an exceptionally informative and entertaining session. Afterward, representatives from two irrigation districts confided that they plan to hire Mr. Yaskin for media training. One workshop attendee noted, “While February 12-13, 2014 some of the panels Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport Hotel Phoenix, Arizona have run over on their allotted time, we have maintained tight schedule of eating every two hours.” Thus, special thanks are due to HDR Engineering, Van Ness Feldman Law Firm, AquaLastic and Huesker Canal Linings, Diamond Plastic Corporation, Rubicon Water, TruePoint Solutions, and Northwest Pipe Company for their generous sponsorships of our coffee and dessert breaks, luncheons, and receptions. Thank you, attendees and sponsors, for making the workshop such a success. Operations and Management

rrigation Leader magazine hosted its second annual Operations and Management Workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, on February 12–13, 2014. Around 80 people attended the workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to create a venue for irrigation district managers, board members, and vendors to share information and learn from each other. All topics and speaker panels for the workshop were suggested by managers and board members. A copy of the program can be viewed on our website at www.WaterAndPowerReport.com. While all of our speakers did a great job, two in particular stood out. Mr. Sam Francis addressed the workshop during the session titled, “Litigation Prevention— The Texas Solution Panel.” Mr. Francis, an attorney with the Texas Water Conservation Association (TWCA) Risk Management Fund, gave a history of how many of the irrigation districts in Texas used to be involved in a great deal of litigation individually. That changed, he explained, once the districts formed the TWCA Risk Management Fund and began defending themselves as a group. Kind of a one-for-all-and-all-for-one idea. Mr. Francis explained that the fund allowed the districts as a group to hire a specialized legal advisor rather than the individual districts relying on their traditional counsel. The best quote from Mr. Francis’s presentation was, “Pay what you owe, but not more than you owe, and always do the right thing.” Mr. Shane Leonard, general manager of the Roosevelt Water Conservation District, and Mr. Keith Yaskin of Flipside Communications conducted a 90-minute presentation on providing information to the public, sending

Volume 5 Issue 1

January 2014

Adapting to Urbanization: A Conversation With San Benito County Water District Manager Jeff Cattaneo

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

The Water and Power Report www.WaterAndPowerReport.com The Water and Power Report is the one-stop aggregate news site for water and power issues in the 17 western states. Sign up for the free “Daily” service to receive e-mail notice of the top headlines and press releases each business day. 2

Irrigation Leader

C O N T E N T S

FEBRUARY 2014 Volume 5

Issue 2

2 A Successful Workshop

By Kris Polly

4 Ted Diehl, 44 Years As Manager

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for November/December and July/August by: Water Strategies LLC P.O. Box 100576 Arlington, VA 22210

Staff: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Crotty, Senior Writer Robin Pursley, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting LLC, Copyeditor

By Norm Semanko

SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com. CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact our office at Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com. Copyright © 2014 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies upon the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

COVER PHOTO: Ted Diehl, former manager of North Side Canal Company. Photo by Ashley Smith of The Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho. Irrigation Leader

of North Side Canal Company 10

Idaho Water Users Association

Generating Better Snowpack Data for Water Managers: NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory

By Thomas H. Painter

Not Drought but Distribution

By Kacie Thrift

MANAGER PROFILE 22

Dale Swenson, Fremont–Madison Irrigation District

District Focus 26

Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District

By Daren Coon

THE Innovators 32

Going Trenchless With Permalok™

Cygnet Enterprises: Aquatic Management Products for Irrigators

Ted Diehl, 44 Years as Manager of North Side Canal Company

ed Diehl has been a fixture of Idaho water for more than 40 years. Last year, at the age of 87, he retired from his position as general manager the North Side Canal Company after 44 years on the job. Under his leadership, North Side Canal Company ensured the delivery of water to the farmers of southern Idaho and developed four major hydropower projects. Before he became a water leader in the state of Idaho, Mr. Diehl served his country and worked the land. He was a fighter pilot in the Navy, as well as an FBI agent. He then returned home to Jerome, Idaho, to farm and implement agricultural engineering solutions for the local farm community. Irrigation Leader’s editor-inchief, Kris Polly, spoke with Mr. Diehl about his life and water in Idaho. Kris Polly: Thanks for speaking with us today Mr. Diehl. To start off, did you grow up in Idaho? Ted Diehl: I was born and raised in Idaho. My granddad came out here with his Ted Diehl. Photo by Ashley Smith of The Times-News of Twin Falls Idaho. family. It was kind of like homesteading. He bought his land from the irrigation district. It was always a great advantage growing up Ted Diehl: I graduated as an ag engineer out of on the farm where you could get a job with your neighbor college. I’ve had a different career than a lot of people. I stacking hay or threshing grain. You could get a few served in the Navy in the Second World War in the Navy dollars to get you through school. Air Corps. I was still in training when the war ended. I came back and went to college. Kris Polly: I hear that in your younger days you were a After college, I joined the FBI and was an agent in boxer. the East for a while. It was a really interesting job, and I learned a lot about people—what they do and what they Ted Diehl: Yes, in college. But I am not as good as believe. I left because I didn’t want to live in the big city. I used to be—the shadow beat me in shadowboxing the So, I came back to Jerome to farm. Then I started an other night. engineering business, building things for farmers. I’ve associated with some great people and had a real wonderful Kris Polly: How did you get involved with the North life. I’m very appreciative of it. We are all very lucky to live Side Canal Company? here in the United States, and I am proud of it.

Irrigation Leader

Kris Polly: What were some of the biggest changes you saw as a manager? Ted Diehl: The biggest change has been the battle over water. We’re not being persistent in the way we want to do things. For instance, here in Idaho, if there is water that goes into a reservoir and is left over, the state wants to use that to give out a water right, but we don’t have enough water to give out the rights. We have to be careful about what we do. The weather has not been consistent. We can go too dry for a couple years, and go too wet for a couple of years . . . which is very seldom. We have to sit down, be neighbors, look each other in the eye, use water wisely, and take care of it. Otherwise, we’ll be without. Kris Polly: What was the largest project you were a part of as general manager of North Side Canal Company? Ted Diehl: Probably the biggest one we did was the power plants we built within the system. They really helped pay off and give us some money to repair the system. These systems wear out, and they need to be repaired. [The revenues from the power plant] did a good job of helping to repair a lateral this past year. Moving water through the power plants during the irrigation season is a real neat deal. And North Side has at least four more big power sites that we can do. When we started working on these plants, the board was concerned with what they would cost and what we would make back. I was real fortunate to run into a gentleman from France who agreed to build the plants and get paid back over the years. It worked well for us over the first go around. I look at it from all angles—the people who use irrigation water in the cities and towns. They have to know what it means to use irrigation water. A lot of the good farm ground has been turned into homes. We need to save some of that good farm ground so we can be able to eat. But we have to be neighbors and try to help each other. Kris Polly: Describe the most challenging aspect of work as a general manager.

Irrigation Leader

Ted Diehl: The biggest challenge was the dry years. If you weren’t careful, and you had two real dry years, farmers wouldn’t have anything to start with for the upcoming year. The challenge was to get water to [those farmers] and help them pass the water around. We ended up making enough water available for crops to come back next year. I went out and talked to the farmers and told them, “If you want to harvest your beets or your potatoes this fall, you have to have water to do it.” The challenge was to get the farmers to understand the situation and be willing to pass the water around. Also, when we would only turn in about 50 percent of the water, because that is about all what people would use. We tried to use every bit of water we had. It really helped us get through the dry season. Looking forward, neighboring districts are going to have to learn to trade water back and forth between each other, so that we can save as much water as possible. We have to look at those types of things to help with finances for [infrastructure] maintenance and to keep farming communities going. Kris Polly: What would you say to farmers who serve on district boards or who might be interested in serving? Ted Diehl: Their responsibility is to manage and keep our water and make sure that everyone is treated equally. It’s good to meet a few times a year—farmers have a lot of good solutions. It is also good to go out on the ditch bank and discuss different things. Good board members make a good company. Kris Polly: What would be your advice to managers just starting out in the business? Ted Diehl: When you see problems or projects coming along, put a notice in the paper or on the radio. Keep ahead of those issues. Just don’t sit there and wait for something to happen. Reach out to others and work with them to help get the job done. I just hope as years go by that we can meet our needs and continue to be neighbors.

Solving your irrigation and water leakage problems, no matter how big they are! Flow Control • Erosion Control • Slope Stabilization • Water Conveyance

5 The 12" trapezoidal SmartDitch® system for light to moderate drainage and flow conditions cing Introdu

SmartDitch®

Reserve

5 The 24" trapezoidal SmartDitch® system for moderate to heavy channel flow conditions

A LIMITED PRODUCTION DITCH LINING SYSTEM MADE ONLY FOR CONCRETE DITCH REHABILITATION

If your concrete ditches are cracked or leaking water, then you need to install SmartDitch® Reserve. Like our standard product line, SmartDitch® Reserve is manufactured using HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), and lighter weight to enhance its value. This special “Reserve” delivers the same quality and performance our customers have come to expect from SmartDitch®. Stop the water loss and avoid the costly expense of replacing your old concrete ditches, order SmartDitch® Reserve today! For more information, check out our website or call the SmartDitch® Reserve toll-free hotline today! 1-866-576-2783

www.smartditch.com

5 The MegaDitch™ system is expandable to accommodate virtually any size and flow conditions

Idaho Water Users Association By Norm Semanko

he Idaho Water Users Association (IWUA) is organized to promote, aid, and assist the development, control, conservation, preservation, and utilization of the water resources of the state of Idaho. IWUA consists of 300 irrigation districts and canal companies, agri-businesses, public water supply organizations, professional firms, and individuals from around the state that manage water supplies for more than 2 million acres of irrigated Idaho farmland, which represents an $8 billion industry.

History

IWUA started in 1937 as the Idaho State Reclamation Association. Like a lot of our sister organizations, IWUA was formed to support the movement of reclaiming the desert and building the economy and social fabric of the West. Over time, the Reclamation Association’s mission broadened to address environmental laws and restrictions, and we became the Idaho Water Users Association. In 1972, IWUA hired its first professional staff. We’ve had three executive directors—Jack Barnett, Sherl Chapman, and me. IWUA advocates for the wise use and protection of water resources throughout Idaho and the West. Since its founding, IWUA has cooperated with like-minded organizations in its sister states and at the national level.

Key Issues for 2014

Food Safety Modernization Act. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule and subsequently revised that proposed rule with the intention of issuing a new one this summer. We are very concerned about the proposed narrative water quality standard for e. Coli that would basically prevent the use of surface water in Idaho and other western states for irrigation of fresh produce—200-plus varieties of crops. Columbia River Treaty. This is a long-standing treaty between the United States and Canada that addresses flood control and power operations. It is being reviewed right now by the United States, which is determining whether anything needs to be changed. There is a lot of concern about changing the role of reservoirs throughout the Columbia River Basin, including the Snake River portion in Idaho. Those changes could gravely impact water supply for our irrigation projects. Part of that is the push to include ecosystem-based functions into the purposes of the treaty. We are very wary of what that means beyond the myriad of environmental laws that have already been implemented throughout the basin. The Nez Perce Water Rights Agreement provides for contributions for flow augmentation for listed salmon in Idaho over the next 30 years. We are concerned that changes to the

treaty will upset the apple cart with additional requirements. That is a very big issue for us now. Regional recommendations have been made to the State Department, which in turn will determine what, if anything, to do with the potential changes to the treaty. Pesticide General Permit. The National Pollution Discharge Eliminations System (NPDES) provides requirements for use of aquatic herbicides in canals and ditches; Idaho is now undertaking the path of applying for primacy in the NPDES permit program. Idaho is one of four states that does not have that program. Of course, if we are going to be regulated for NPDES activities, then we would prefer to work with our state. Endangered Species Act. We remain concerned about the use of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the activist environmental litigation industry, which amounts to attorneys’ fees, endless listings, and seemingly no recovery of species. Any modifications, enhancements, or improvements to the ESA would be welcome. There is no lack of listings proposed in Idaho because of the grand settlement, which requires U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to pass on all these proposed listings and decide whether to list various species. Whether it’s the yellow-billed cuckoo or some other species coming down the pipeline, we are concerned about the impacts on Idaho’s reservoir and irrigation operations. Clean Water Act Jurisdiction. We are very concerned about the expansion of the definition of “waters of the United States,” which would broaden what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) looks at in Idaho and other states in terms of regulating water bodies. We are concerned that EPA will be reaching down into canals and drains.

Water Resource Development in Idaho

At the state level, we have a very active water resources board—the Idaho Water Resources Board (IWRB). The Idaho Constitution has tasked the IWRB with planning for the appropriation of the unappropriated water in the state. The board’s mission corresponds to efforts by other states in the 1960s and early 1970s to look at obtaining water from Idaho. At that time, the state decided to plan its water supply more comprehensively. The IWRB has been active in recent years, in cooperation with Governor Otter and previous governors, in looking at potential additional storage. The IWRB has been investigating raising Arrowrock Dam in the Boise Basin and building a dam on the Weiser River, which is a bit further down the road. The Bureau of Reclamation is currently studying the potential for adding capacity to Island Park Reservoir. The IWRB is also tasked with implementing the Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan process in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, a 10,000-square-foot area (roughly the size of Lake Erie) in eastern Idaho. The groundwater table

Irrigation Leader

is declining in that area, so part of the plan for ensuring a sustainable level of groundwater includes recharge. That entails a plan adopted by the IWRB and passed by the Idaho legislature to bring 600,000 acre-feet of recharge into the aquifer. They are in the process of implementing that now—they have identified good recharge sites and are currently looking at developing the capacity to store and deliver water to those sites. In his latest “State of the State” address, Governor Otter asked the legislature to appropriate $15 million for various water projects, including ongoing recharge activities. The legislature is not only agreeable to doing so but has found a way to use surplus dollars to fit projects into the current year’s budget rather than the next fiscal year. In fact, the speaker of the house just put forward a proposal in the Idaho house to reallocate some cigarette tax dollars to the water recharge fund.

Educational and Association Programming

Part of our ongoing mission is to educate water users, decisionmakers, and the general public. Karen Edwards manages IWUA’s education programs for ditchriders and pesticide applicators, as well as our biannual water law seminars. IWUA works closely with the Idaho Department of Agriculture to ensure that those applicator courses are certified. There is quite a demand for the courses, and IWUA hosts three across the state every year. IWUA holds an annual convention to conduct association business. This year, we had 212 attendees and featured a speech from Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little. Of great import to

attendees this year were water supply reports from Reclamation and the National Resources Conservation Service, as well as presentations on weather modification efforts in the state.

Looking Ahead

Education will become more critical as Idaho urbanizes. Residents living in subdivisions need to know that their water originates in reservoirs and is delivered by irrigation districts and canal companies. Without those reservoirs, the Treasure Valley and the Snake River Plain would not be home to the growing communities and productive farmlands that exist today. We also have to make the most of opportunities to collaborate with like-minded organizations. Whether it is working regionally through our Tri-State meetings with the Washington State Water Resources Association and the Oregon Water Resources Congress, or nationally through the National Water Resources Association and the Family Farm Alliance, we have to continue to advocate for the development of water resources to support the farms and communities of the West. Norm Semanko is the executive director and general counsel of the Idaho Water Users Association. For more information on IWUA, visit iwua.org. Mr. Semanko can be reached at (208) 344-6690 or norm@iwua.org.

Generating Better Snowpack Data for Water Managers:

NASA’s Airborne Snow Observatory By Thomas H. Painter

now cover and its melt dominate regional climate and water resources in many of the world’s mountainous regions. In the western United States, snowmelt runoff drives the water system, providing more than 75 percent of the total freshwater for agricultural, domestic, and industrial usage. However, we face significant water resource challenges due to the intersection of increasing demand from population growth and changes in runoff volume and timing due to climate change and the acceleration of snowmelt by dust. The duration of mountain snowpack in the western United States and in other mountainous regions of the globe has been shortening and is likely to continue to do so under unimpeded warming associated with climate change. Moreover, increasing temperatures in desert systems will increase dust loading to mountain snow cover, which causes snow cover to darken and melt more

rapidly. This faster melt accelerates streamflow and makes water resource management a more uncertain and risky enterprise. The two most critical properties for understanding snowmelt totals and timing are the distribution of snow water equivalent (SWE), which is the resultant depth of water if the snowpack was melted instantly, and the distribution of snow albedo, respectively. Despite their importance in controlling the volume and timing of runoff, the mountain snowpack is still poorly quantified in the United States and not at all in most of the rest of the world, leaving runoff and climate models poorly constrained and our physical understanding of mountain snowmelt–driven systems poor. In the western United States, we have relatively sparse measurements of SWE; the measurements are mostly at lower and middle elevations and only a few per basin. These sites are used as indices for runoff estimates, but as point indicators for a measure that varies widely across

Irrigation Leader

the landscape from zero to more than 5 meters, they do not provide a direct estimate of the total water volume in the snowpacks of basins. Moreover, with rising snow lines under climate change, these index sites will more frequently melt out earlier and thus lose their utility. Albedo is even more drastically undersampled, with just a handful of research towers distributed around the West. To address this need, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory has created the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO), a coupled imaging spectrometer and scanning lidar system. ASO quantifies SWE and snow albedo; generates unprecedented knowledge of snow properties; and provides complete, robust inputs to water management models and systems of the future. ASO is currently being evaluated through a multiyear demonstration mission of weekly acquisitions in the Tuolumne River Basin (Sierra Nevada, California) above the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides the freshwater supply to the city of San Francisco and other Bay Area municipalities. Winter/spring surface elevation measurements from the lidar are differenced with the baseline snow-free lidar measurements made in summer to give the spatial distribution of snow depth at about 5 feet horizontal resolution. Multiplying the snow depth map by measured and modeled snow densities, we have complete maps of SWE, providing the unprecedented capacity to add up volumes of water in the entire basin or any subbasins. To determine the amount of sunlight absorbed by the surface of each of the 5-foot spatial resolution SWE footprints on the ground, ASO uses an imaging spectrometer to measure the reflected sunlight. With knowledge of solar illumination distributed across the topography, ASO determines absorbed sunlight in nearly 100 colors across the sun’s spectrum. This range of measurements by the spectrometer allows us to know whether absorption has increased by increasing snow grain size or deposition of dust and black carbon. For example, in the mountains of the Colorado River Basin, dust deposited from the lowland deserts of the southwestern United States causes the snowpack to melt away one to two months earlier than clean snow, and the interannual variability in dust drives large variation in operational forecasting errors. These ASO data are remarkable in the quality of their insights into the mountain snowpack. However, without timely delivery, they cannot directly help operational runoff forecasting and water management. Therefore, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ASO team created an interwoven data processing system that turns the nearly Irrigation Leader

1 terabyte of raw data of each flight into the high-quality SWE and albedo products within 24 hours. With these weekly products that are delivered within less than 24 hours, the ASO teamed with the Hetch Hetchy operation to better predict snowmelt inflow to the reservoir. In turn, this helped the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir operators to efficiently top off the reservoir in the midst of an uncertain and otherwise data-poor year. ASO data will soon be available to the public from the webserver at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (aso.jpl.nasa. gov). The products are in 50-meter grids across the basin in GeoTIFF formats that are easily digestable by GIS software and in hydrologic response units across the basin in ASCII format.

A Broad Vision for Snow Hydrology and Water Resources

Based on the foundation of the ASO Demonstration Mission, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory plans to expand to the entire Sierra Nevada of California and the Upper Colorado River Basin while maintaining timely acquisitions. This imaging infrastructure will bring the nation an unprecedented quantitative knowledge of its snow water resources. These data alone provide critical information to water management interests in the western United States. However, their full potential will be best achieved in conjunction with new capabilities for process-based hydrologic forecasting. The vast majority of snowmelt and runoff forecasting is based on statistical relationships from the previous decade to decades, in other words, a prior climatic environment. On average, this forecasting had gotten the right answer, but with its statistical fits, it suffers from year-to-year over- and underestimates. To begin to reduce forecast errors in each year, academic, federal, and operational organizations are gradually migrating toward physically based models that take into account the present year’s information on a daily to subdaily basis. Measurements such as the ASO are critical to bringing those models much closer to reality. Dr. Thomas H. Painter ( Jet Propulsion Laboratory), principal investigator, has been at the forefront of the development of field and imaging spectroscopy of snow properties. Dr. Painter has made fundamental discoveries of the impacts of dust from disturbed lands on the snowmelt and runoff of mountain systems. 13

Not Drought but Distribution By Kacie Thrift

s many western states deal with drought, the Columbia Basin in Washington State is dealing with a different water issue. The problem isn’t lack of water but lack of resources for distribution. Half of the Columbia Basin Project, authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is completed, and many in the Evergreen State are pushing for continuation of the infrastructure needed by irrigators to use water from the Columbia River. In the 1960s and 1970s, permits were issued by the state’s Department of Ecology as a temporary solution to provide irrigation water from the Odessa Subarea Aquifer until surface water from the Columbia River could be delivered to undeveloped areas of the Columbia Basin Project. However, irrigators are still pulling water from the aquifer, which in turn has lowered the water table to a critical level. Water users relying on the Odessa aquifer include not only irrigators but also municipalities, industrial users, and domestic users. Experts say that if action is not taken to further develop the Columbia Basin Project, water supplies from the aquifer could disappear in some areas. Up to 35 percent of the wells currently used could dry up as early as 2020. Even though the aquifer had dropped to critical levels, no resolution could begin until a record of decision (ROD) was signed by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director Lorri Lee authorizing implementation of an option as identified in an environmental impact statement. Ms. Lee signed the ROD on April 2, 2013, giving the green light to begin work. Since then, progress has been made to get irrigators off the aquifer with a plan to expand the infrastructure of a Columbia Basin irrigation district. This plan, the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, is a combination of three water sources: the Odessa Subarea Special Study (70,000 acres), the Lake Roosevelt Incremental Releases Program (10,000 acres), and the Coordinated Conservation Program (8,000 acres). All three projects, in the best-case scenario, would take 88,000 irrigated acres off well water and replace it with surface water from the Columbia Basin Project. Also in 2013, the Washington State legislature passed a state budget that included $28 million for the Ground Water Replacement Program. The funds are being used to start the expansion of 43 miles of East Low Canal, which includes five new siphon barrels, and to widen numerous bridges. The East Low Canal improvement construction is expected to be completed by December 2015. The two primary elements of the plan are to widen the East Low Canal south of I‑90 and construct pump stations and pipeline systems to carry water from the canal to farms now on wells. Reclamation estimates that the canal improvement work will cost approximately

$75 million and the pump and pipeline systems another $700 million. “We are hoping the money from the state will get us as far along the project as possible, but eventually we will need more funds,” said Columbia Basin Development League Executive Director Vicky Scharlau. “We are looking to our federal partners for creative financial support when that time comes.” An advocacy group based in central Washington, the Columbia Basin Development League has supported the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project and future development since 1964. “As an advocacy group, we pull our resources together to push for this project’s completion,” said league Chair Milt Johnston. “We work on multiple levels with a variety of partners, and right now our main focus is getting people off the aquifer.” Two meetings have been held for landowners within the project area, and another is scheduled for this spring, to discuss delivery system design and feasibility. Eligibility for landowners to receive replacement water was established in late 2013, and the irrigation district has been working with landowners to find interested irrigators. But, there are stipulations: • The Washington Department of Ecology’s criterion is that the landowner be a deep-well irrigator with a valid groundwater right that can be put into standby status when Reclamation project water supply is available. • The Bureau of Reclamation criteria for groundwater replacement is that land be within the Columbia Basin Project and Odessa Subarea Special Study boundaries and have an irrigable classification and that irrigators be subject to Reclamation Reform Act requirements. • The irrigation district requires that a water service contract be signed to pay operation, maintenance, and repayment costs. A monitoring system will ensure compliance with the contract and project requirements. To continue work on the East Low Canal, a water service contract is necessary to secure further financing, such as revenue bonds. However, repayment from irrigators is not the only option to fund the project. “We firmly believe there are other options available at the federal level,” Ms. Scharlau said. “Our job is to uncover them and then get creative.” Kacie Thrift writes about issues affecting the Columbia Basin Project. Most recently, she was a reporter and assistant editor for two newspapers in north-central Washington. She grew up in Entiat, Washington, and is a graduate with honors from Whitworth University with a bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communications. Irrigation Leader

The ALPS Canal Repair System allows the irrigation district’s own crew to apply the unique AquaLastic® LP polyurea crack sealer and/or surface coating to repair and protect canals, flumes and other concrete structures. It is also a valuable tool for stopping leaks and water loss. Over 14 million feet of canals have been successfully repaired with AquaLastic® Made in the USA • Suitable for all USA climates

CALL: 509-467-8487

jill@fixcanal.com - www.fixcanal.com

Manager Profile

Dale Swensen, Dale Swensen standing atop a diversion dam.

ale Swensen wears many hats in the world of eastern Idaho water. He has served as the executive director of the Fremont–Madison Irrigation District (FMID) since 1978. He is the secretary-treasurer for two canal companies—Egin Bench Canal Company and the Southeast Idaho Canal Company. He is a board member of the Idaho Water Users Association and the National Water Resources Association. Dale has also cofacilitated the Henry’s Fork Watershed Council since 1993. FMID extends across 280,000 acres of the Upper Snake River Valley, providing supplemental water to 150,000 irrigated acres irrigated year in and year out. All the water users have state-granted natural flow water rights. FMID’s infrastructure comprises Grassy Lake Dam, Island Park Dam, Chester Diversion Dam, and Cross-cut Canal in Fremont County, Idaho. Roughly 425 miles of earthen canals deliver water to 1,500 farmers growing commercial and seed potatoes, wheat and barley, alfalfa, and some silage corn over a fairly short growing season. Irrigation Leader’s senior writer, John Crotty, spoke with Dale about FMID, developing water supply resources, and engaging stakeholders to get things done. John Crotty: Fremont–Madison has a long history. Please talk about the district’s origins. Dale Swensen: Canal companies in the area formed as far back as 1880 to deliver water. They are nonprofit corporations that have their own water rights, are governed by their own board of directors, and conduct their own maintenance. Those companies needed supplemental storage. So out of the drought of the 1930s, Fremont–Madison was formed to contract with the Bureau of Reclamation to supplement the water

Fremont–Madison Irrigation District allocated under the companies’ natural flow water rights. Fremont–Madison holds its storage space in the federal reservoirs of Grassy Lake and Island Park. That storage space is allocated out to the shareholders of the 40 canal companies. An individual water user will have shares in the canal company and will also have storage space through Fremont–Madison. John Crotty: How did you originally get into the water business? Dale Swensen: I grew up in St. Anthony and earned a degree in animal science from Brigham Young. I returned here to raise my family and found a job at a dairy farm. The Teton Dam failure of 1976 flooded the dairy at which I was working, so I moved into the construction business. One of the people I approached about rebuilding his home after the flood was on the board of directors of FMID. I didn’t know anything about irrigation or Fremont–Madison at the time. A year after that, the manager of the irrigation district resigned and took a job elsewhere. The board member remembered me, offered me the job, and I accepted. John Crotty: How did you become involved with the two canal companies? Dale Swensen: Both companies had secretarytreasurers who retired. They approached me to see whether I would take over. I sought permission from my board of directors at Fremont–Madison before taking the positions. Fremont–Madison has very good relationships with all of the canal companies. Irrigation Leader

John Crotty: You have had success collaborating with a variety of water stakeholders. Tell us about your work with the Henry’s Fork Watershed Council.

Grassy Lake outlet works in winter.

In fact, Fremont–Madison serves as a kind of umbrella organization. We are the only water user entity that has full-time staff and an office. So we serve as a resource to those canal companies on different water issues. My main duties are to send out water assessments to the shareholders of those two companies, collect the money, do the bookkeeping, attend the board meetings, and keep the minutes. Everybody’s part time. I’m part time. The watermasters are part time. They get their instructions from the president of the canal company. These companies don’t own any equipment—they contract out their canal work, cleaning, and construction of checks and head gates. John Crotty: Reclamation transferred title of some of its Minidoka and Teton Basin Projects to FMID. Talk about how that came about. Dale Swensen: In 1996, the Bureau of Reclamation turned the operation and maintenance of Island Park and Grassy Lake over to the irrigation district. We hoped to reduce costs and reduce some of the bureaucratic challenges of working on a Reclamation project, so we investigated a title transfer. Initially, we tried to negotiate a transfer of the entire project. During the negotiation process, some environmental groups challenged the transfer of the entire project to Fremont–Madison after expressing concern over liability issues. Also, as a public entity, the Bureau of Reclamation is required to listen, while we may not have been so inclined. We ended up doing a more limited title transfer in 2003, covering the Cross-cut Canal, Chester Diversion Dam, and five groundwater wells.

Irrigation Leader

Dale Swensen: We generally have had good relationships with local environmental groups. The council was borne out of those relationships. It was founded in 1993. One of the initial premises of the council was that everyone would respect Fremont–Madison’s water delivery contracts and water rights. The environmental groups have been very good about that. At the same time, the district promised to do our best to find flexibility in water management to help with fish and wildlife issues. Those same environmentalists were the very people we were negotiating with on the title transfer. For a while, it looked like we were going to get the deal done. However, there were also some national groups involved that had a different agenda. Their representatives went back to their respective DC offices with the details of the deal. That signaled the end of the full transfer—they had to withdraw their support. John Crotty: What are some of the challenges facing the district? Dale Swensen: Water supply is a major issue. We are in a drought right now, although nothing like what is happening elsewhere in the country. We are looking for ways to improve the water supply. In fact, that is the purpose of those five wells—they pump groundwater to the surface to supplement surface flows. We have undertaken the Henry’s Fork Basin Study to address water supply concerns. The study is a jointly funded study with the Idaho Water Resource Board and the Bureau of Reclamation to see whether we can develop some additional water storage. The study is coming to a close, and the final report should be out this spring. One the alternatives to come out of that study was to raise the bathtub spillway on Island Park Reservoir by 3 feet and add 30,000 acre-feet of storage. The governor proposed $1.5 million to study that further. We’re optimistic. Out of all of the alternatives proposed in the study, the spillway project seems like the one with the highest cost-benefit ratio. The funding situation remains to be seen. We’ll see who steps up as the main beneficiaries of the project. One of the district’s other major challenges is making our water delivery systems more efficient. However, when we talk about water conservation up here in the valley, it is a little bit different than in other places. The one thing we don’t want to do is line canals, because it would affect the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. We are starting to investigate whether we can achieve water savings through canal automation. 23

At the moment, the aquifer’s health is poor. Any recharge above the incidental recharge that is built into the system is due to an overabundance of water, and we just don’t have that right now. The area is in the throws of conjunctive management. Some of the canal companies down near Twin Falls are making calls on water users. It’s a big deal. Fremont–Madison has been spared thus far— there haven’t been any calls made on our wells yet. John Crotty: Has the district undertaken other efforts to address supply issues? Dale Swensen: The district is involved with a cloud seeding project. We’re involved with the High Country Resource Conservation and Development, which is the group that put the cloud seeding project together. I am chairman of that steering committee. Cloud seeding has been going on and off over the last 20 years or so, but over the last 6 years, a more organized effort has been made. We hired a company to set up 25 generators to put silver iodide up into the atmosphere and seed the clouds. It is paid for through voluntary donations from cities, counties, water districts, and water user entities. We’ve had some statistical evaluations done so far showing a 2 to 5 percent increase in snow water equivalent. John Crotty: Where would you like to see FMID in the future? Dale Swensen: I’d like to see recharge projects identified in our area and areas downstream more fully developed. We can recharge much more water when it is available if we had a larger delivery canal and a more defined area to put the water in. So, when there actually is an overabundance of water, we would be able to run

Grassy Lake outlet works.

500 or 600 cubic feet per second instead of 100 cubic feet per second. We have been working with the state on developing our recharge for quite a few years already. Like many other states, Idaho has been in a funding crunch. But we are starting to see that free up a little bit. The governor has proposed $2.5 million for the enhancement of Island Park as part of a broader funding package. John Crotty: What have you enjoyed most about the job? Dale Swensen: I love working with farmers and our canal watermasters. They all have a tough job, especially when there’s drought. Our farmers and watermasters work together very well, and it’s great to be a part of that.

Diversion dam on Henry's Fork River. 24

Irrigation Leader

s k c i K r u o y Get 6 6 e t u o R n o

E T A D E SAVE TH National Water Resources Association

WesteRN WAteR semiNAR Join us in the Cool Country of Flagstaff, Arizona

July 28â&#x20AC;&#x201C;30,2014

District Focus

Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District By Daren Coon

he Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District (NMID) is a water storage, conveyance, distribution, and drainage system that supplies irrigation water to 69,000 acres of farms and lawns in Canyon and Ada Counties of southwestern Idaho. Since its founding at the turn of the last century, NMID has delivered water to both small, highly productive farms and a steadily growing urban environment in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. NMID operates and maintains more than 500 miles of canals and drains to deliver water to variety of crops, including sugar beets, alfalfa, beans, and flower seeds, while thousands of miles of pressurized pipe services portions of three cities and 367 subdivisions. NMID’s primary responsibility is simple: to operate and maintain the district’s infrastructure and ensure the delivery of irrigation water.

History

In 1905, NMID acquired the right, title, and interest to a canal company that was the predecessor of NMID. The acquired water rights date back to the 1860s and are some of the oldest in the state of Idaho. The canal company’s original stockholders and investors—the same owners of the railroad companies that helped open up the West—were from out East, mostly the Philadelphia area. But private enterprise was not able to make it over the long haul. What was needed was a political subdivision or entity that had the right of assessment and did not have to rely on outside investors to underwrite the expense of construction and maintenance. The formation of NMID brought management home to the water users of the Treasure Valley—those making a living off the water. In 1909, the Reclamation Service moved in at the request of Treasure Valley water users to build

Arrowrock Dam. 26

Irrigation Leader

reservoirs along the Boise River. After dedicating years to surveying and research, the Reclamation Service decided on the Arrowrock Dam, which was completed by 1911. At the time, the arched concrete dam was the tallest concrete structure in the world. NMID and four other districts became the beneficiaries of the water stored behind the Arrowrock. As time passed, NMID’s river and storage rights became inadequate to irrigate more acres, so efforts were undertaken to expand storage. Anderson Ranch Dam was completed after World War II and provides three times as much storage as Arrowrock Reservoir. Then, in the late 1950s the Army Corps of Engineers built Lucky Peak Dam primarily for flood control purposes, although subsequently, several irrigation districts acquired permanent irrigation storage rights in the reservoir. There is also an offline storage reservoir, Deer Flat Reservoir, that receives its water from the New York Canal. It is a shallow, warm-water body that reregulates water to NMID and also serves as a wildlife refuge. Around 1910, the Reclamation Service recognized that it was bringing a lot of water to NMID and surrounding districts without sufficient drainage. District lands were water soaked and decreased in productivity. The water users called for Congress to authorize the financing of a drainage project in NMID. Hundreds of miles of drains were necessary to take the irrigation water back to the Boise River. The project began in 1911 and was nearly complete by 1920. Today, NMID has the unique distinction of being both irrigation and drainage.

Completed replacement flume for the Fogarty Lateral across the New York Canal in a rural area of Nampa.

At the Intersection of Agriculture and Urbanization

NMID has been dealing with the effects of urbanization since the early 1900s. For an irrigation district in Idaho, the end goal is to deliver irrigation water to the lands in the district that have a water right apportioned to them. So NMID has moved along and modified its behavior to accommodate an increase in population and all that comes along with it—everything from crossings and encroachments to discharges into our drainage facilities. For our district, it was an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. While there has been this change from agriculture to urbanization, water rights remain appurtenant to the land irrespective of how or whether the water is put to use. NMID has structured its contracts with Reclamation to talk about irrigation—you won’t find the words agriculture or cultivation in any of our contracts—they truly are construction contracts for irrigation. And under Idaho law, within an irrigation district, choosing not to use the water does not mean the water right has been forfeited. You can’t punish an entity and other water users if one user does not

Irrigation Leader

Concrete lining of the Ridenbaugh Canal prior to additional commercial development in suburban Boise.

One of many concrete-lined sections of the Ridenbaugh Canal.

put his or her water to use. To put urban growth in NMID into perspective, from January 1990 to this past December, NMID signed off on 1,194 pressure urban irrigation system construction contracts. There are 14,706 tracts of land covering 5,383 acres in Ada and Canyon Counties, which are subject to NMID’s pressure systems. That number expands on a monthly basis. NMID provides irrigation water to three cities, which in turn pressurize and turn out to urban and suburban lots. Nampa City, the largest at 7,154 acres, is probably single largest urban distribution system in the entire West. NMID’s first agreement with Nampa City for delivery

of water was signed in 1920, and its first agreement with Nampa City as a municipal irrigation district was signed in 1939. On the other end of our service area is Boise, whose municipal irrigation district is very small, at 42.3 acres. Our district comprises 2,660 subdivisions covering 60,000 tracts of land. Back in 1976, there were roughly 27,000 tracts. NMID also serves 1,300 acres owned by Simplot and Micron in southeastern Boise. Those lands use part of the water for irrigation and manufacturing. Micron takes its part of the surface water, cleans it to water quality standards, injects it into a sealed aquifer, and then removes it for memory chip manufacturing. Agricultural use of the water is not necessarily held in any higher esteem than any other use of the water. NMID’s focus is on operating and maintaining the distribution system. NMID’s board reflects that mentality and represents a diversity of backgrounds. Members who do not have a direct agricultural connection often have an indirect one. In fact, one of our longest-serving members began his life on the farm, but wound up becoming president of one of the largest banks in Idaho.

Present and Future Challenges Drum filter for pressure urban irrigation system, Meridian.

New check structure on Ridenbaugh Canal adjacent to commercial development, Boise.

Federal and state regulations governing water supply and water quality are developing and evolving. The direct and indirect impacts of those regulations on NMID’s ability to maintain and operate the irrigation and drainage system are a challenge. Often, such regulations obligate a district or a farmer to certain behaviors that are not characteristic of the district or not committed to law. Among the requirements with the greatest effect on NMID are National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits, Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain administration regulations, and the continuous changes to the Bureau of Reclamation’s directives and standards. It is extremely important to pay attention to all the details of a rule proposal or promulgation. Inevitably, some bureaucrat somewhere down the line will reinterpret the rule—and what you thought was the case 20 years ago is no longer the case today. Today, the biggest challenge for an irrigation district is urbanization. It is our job to consistently educate newcomers about the purpose of the district. Ultimately, our goal is to stay true to the purpose of the district. Daren Coon is the secretary-treasurer and secretary of the board of Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District. He has been with the district for 38 years. You can reach Daren at (208) 466‑7861 or DCoon@nmid.org.

Finch lateral intake and diversion structure, Boise. 28

Irrigation Leader

CONNECTING CONNECTING RESOURCES RESOURCES

Van Ness Feldman helps irrigation and water districts, water user associations, and other water supply entities identify and implement opportunities for low-head hydropower development. With over three decades of experience in regulatory matters affecting hydropower, our attorneys and other professionals are committed to making these projects a reality through efficient, cost-effective services. Washington, DC | Seattle | vnf.com

The Innovators

Going Trenchless With Permalok™

he most effective innovations are often the most simple in design. Permalok™, a Northwest Pipe Company, manufactures an interlocking pipe joining system that takes the field welding out of joining steel casing pipe. The Permalok™ joint utilizes a precision-machined interference fit that eliminates the need for timeintensive, field-applied butt welds on trenchless installations. Permalok™’s Dave Mittler describes the joint as a product of necessity. Contractors were getting tired of spending too much time butt welding steel casing pipe, so Permalok™’s founders worked to find an easier way to connect two sections of casing pipe together. Permalok™ developed a proprietary locking system, which in a typical trenchless operation requires 40 to 80 tons of force to push the joint together, depending on the thickness of the casing pipe wall. The end result of that application of force causes the stairstep joint section to interlock and continue to advance the pipe through the soil instead of standing still for hours as the sections of pipe are butt welded together. Northwest Pipe’s Russ Lascink put it succinctly: “Rule of thumb is that Permalok™ will save 80 percent in time and labor over traditional casing butt-welded joints.” The figure on the next page shows the installation advantages offered by Permalok™ for 24‑inch and 60‑inch casing pipe. Permalok™ is generally used as a casing pipe 32

West Campus Co-Gen Chilled Water Facility, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. The project used approximately 750 feet of 87.5-inch diameter Permalok.

installation with a carrier pipe installed inside. There are also occasions when Permalok™-configured steel gravity pipe has been used in a single-pass application to serve strictly as a culvert without a carrier pipe placed inside it. Permalok™ is the joining method of choice in trenchless operations due to the flexibility of steel and consistent outside diameter tolerances, as well as the steel’s high compressive strength, which enables it to endure large jacking forces.

Types of Trenchless Solutions

Trenchless construction technologies eliminate the need to cut ditches into roadways, embankments, or canals for pipe and casing installations. This in turn takes out much of the social costs of traditional construction, such as the disruption of businesses, traffic congestions, noise, environmental pollution, and other inconveniences that don’t carry a defined price tag in a typical pipeline construction project. Some common trenchless technologies for the installation of Permalok™ casing pipe include microtunneling, traditional pipe jacking, pipe ramming, and auger boring. Microtunneling is a method of steerable, remote pipe jacking that is controlled from the surface and advanced through the ground with a set of jacks. The microtunnel boring machine mines the tunnel path remotely as individual pipes are joined in succession behind the advancing machine. A launching shaft is created on one side of the installation and a retrieval shaft on the other, while the Permalok™ casing pipe Irrigation Leader

is hydraulically jacked between the two. This technology is considered the most precise pipe jacking method, and it can handle variable ground conditions. Thus, this method is constantly setting new single-drive distance records and is growing in construction popularity at a rapid pace. Pipe ramming has been around for about 15 years. Pipe ramming operations use a pneumatic hammer that is placed at the back end of the pipe, which is then hammered open ended, like a horizontal pile-driving operation. When the Permalok™ casing comes out the other side, all of the spoils are removed from the inside of the casing pipe. No ground is actually disturbed outside the casing pipe. It is a relatively cheap installation method compared to microtunneling, which requires launch and retrieval shafts and does not require the installation of any jacking frames to push the pipe. Pipe ramming is versatile; pneumatic hammers can handle a variety of pipe sizes up to 140 inches in diameter. While you would not want to be driving pipe through hard rock, it is well suited for graded soils or short runs under highways and railroads. This technology is limited by the friction between the soil and pipe and the energy of the hammer. For projects extending beyond 400 or 500 feet, it can get more difficult. Care must be taken when setting up a ramming operation, as there is no provision for steering or correction once the ram is underway. Auger boring is one of the oldest trenchless

Irrigation Leader

Ala Moana Force Main, Honolulu, HI, which is the largest single microtunneling project in North America. The project incudes approximately 15,000 feet of 81-inch diameter Permalok.

construction methods around. The auger is in essence a large drill bit that excavates the soil as each pipe section is advanced forward by jacking. Then the auger machine is moved back, a new section of pipe is joined, and the operation is repeated until completion of the drive. It is a fairly inexpensive operation since it does not require the costly equipment of a microtunneling operation, but it is difficult to keep a straight alignment and steer toward the anticipated target or exit location. Mr. Mittler noted that auger boring is becoming less prevalent due to the lack of a precise guidance system demanded by most owners and design engineers in today’s congested underground utility network.

Trenchless Solutions

There are a variety of uses for trenchless operations applicable to agricultural operations or irrigators who might be wary of an open-cut project that must traverse underneath an embankment, canal, railroad, highway, or even underneath contaminated soil. Trenchless construction methods have saved significant time by reducing a lot of the permits required due to its ability to neither interfere with waterways nor impact other concerns of regulatory agencies. Often, a trenchless method is used for projects that run under a water table. Even at depths where open cut might not be unwieldy, project operators still may hit the water table. It often becomes necessary to draw the water table down below the open cut to work safely, which can get very expensive. However, with microtunneling, all of that liquid will go through a hose distribution system into a holding and settling tank, so there is very limited entry of groundwater into the pipe construction area.

Case Summaries Project Title:

Ala Moana Force Main – Honolulu, Hawaii

Owner: City and County of Honolulu Unique Attribute/comment: The largest North American single microtunneling project. The largest Permalok project to date. Part of the Emergency Beachwalk Force Main Construction project. Project Specifics: 14,700 feet of 81-inch diameter Permalok Casing Pipe. Includes two 1,700-feet Canal Crossings Microtunneling Contractor: Frank Coluccio Construction Equipment for Microtunneling: Machine RASA DHL-1800 Project Title:

Tampa Bay Water Project – Tampa, Florida

Owner: Tampa Bay Water Unique Attribute /comment: This was a Pipe Ramming project. Challenge was to install a large diameter intake pipe while maintaining minimal disturbance to surrounding railroads, businesses, and vehicular traffic. Project Specifics: 789 feet of 120-inch diameter Permalok Pipe Ramming Contractor: Ballast Nedham Construction, Inc. Equipment for Pipe Ramming: Modified IHC S-90 offshore hammer

Cygnet Enterprises: Aquatic The Innovators

Management Products for Irrigators

quatic management can be a challenge for irrigators. Treatment products can be effective but difficult or dangerous to use. To that end, Cygnet Enterprises has dedicated itself to acquiring and distributing quality products formulated in America for use by aquatic managers, such as applicators, water managers, and irrigators.

From Automobiles to Aquatics

Cygnet founder Richard Hinterman has been a businessman at heart since he was a boy growing up on the farm in Michigan. As a young man, he made his mark with the Ford Motor Company, becoming the youngest dealer in company’s history and earning its Distinguished Dealer Richard Hinterman Award 13 straight years. After successfully selling cars for 20 years across three states, he stepped away from the business to work on his first love—farming. Life on the farm was sweet but short lived. The applicator who treated Richard’s pond was looking to sell his aquatic application company. Serendipity it was not—a good businessman knows a lucrative opportunity. “So,” according to Richard, “I got into the aquatic application business.” He soon encountered difficulties buying chemicals that were safe for application, so he entered the distribution business and formed Cygnet Enterprises. The company received early support from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, which appreciated that Cygnet was selling properly tested, EPAapproved and -registered chemicals. After 20 years in the application business, he sold it to focus solely on distribution. Richard is now in his 43rd year in the aquatic management business.

Cygnet Enterprises

Richard Hinterman’s business philosophy is simple: “Hard work and service, service, service. There are other companies that can sell the same products that we sell. The only way we can distinguish ourselves is through providing better service. [Cygnet] only

sell[s] aquatics. We know aquatics better than anybody because that is all we do.” Cygnet’s main customer base is lake applicators and, of course, irrigators. And the company has responded to the growing need for quality irrigation applications. “Water is getting scarcer all the time, and we have to make sure canals are clean. Irrigators want to make sure they get the water for which they are contracted. That is hard to do it if you have weeds and algae in your water system.” For its western customers, Cygnet has offices in California and Idaho. And Cygnet is keen on growing its relationships with water associations across the West. “If we see a need [in a state], we’ll set up there. We put people on the ground to get the job done. Our customers deserve the best possible service before, during, and after a sale.”

A Tough Market

The aquatic market is a very small portion of the overall chemical market—less than 2 percent—so it is hard to encourage research. For the companies that do spend a lot of money on the research and development of aquatic herbicides, by the time the products reach the market, there may be only five or six years left on their patents. It is a tough business. Cygnet buys its products from large companies that formulate the products in the United States and have been in business for years. It tries to not deal in any foreign products. That business practice can pose a challenge. As Richard describes it, “Right now, it is a fight for a company that only handles American products. A lot of products come over from China and India at potentially less cost to applicators, but with the potential risk of including illegal and dangerous ingredients. These products are used in our most precious resource, which is fresh water, and we are not willing to take the chance.” Cygnet tackles the challenge of competing with low-cost foreign products by doubling down on quality. All of the products distributed by Cygnet have a potable water tolerance, which means you can put those products in water at certain percentages and be able drink the water safely. “Our products are a little more work to get to market, but they are safer and better for the environment.”

Commitment to Education

The Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Foundation Irrigation Leader

Canal application.

(AERF) has been an instrumental partner in ensuring that high-quality products get to the market and are used correctly by applicators nationwide. To that end, AERF produces a comprehensive manual on aquatic plants and products, Biology and Control of Aquatic Plants, a Best Management Practices Handbook. It was written as an AERF project by the world’s foremost experts in aquatic plant management. AERF supplies it to applicators, colleges, and staff in state departments of environmental quality—almost everyone involved in aquatic management. The manual is applicable to the 17 western states, and

AERF has been a key facilitator in helping products reach western markets. AERF was very active in working with Idaho officials to make products such as Cascade® and Teton® available in the state. In addition to being a founding and active member of AERF, Cygnet has also assisted in conducting educational symposiums with the foundation in Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and California over the years. The company has already conducted three day-long sessions in California last month, training roughly 50 applicators per session. Currently, Cygnet is part of a team involved with the Idaho Water Users Association that conducts training for irrigators and applicators in the state. Through these sessions, applicators can earn the credits they need for licensing renewal. For Richard, these sessions are “all about bringing in a group of people to educate about products on the market, to train as to how to apply different chemicals, efficiently and safely, and to inform of the laws and rules impacting aquatic chemicals.” If you or your district is interested in learning more about aquatic management products, Cygnet Enterprises, or AERF, please contact John Selby at (877) 467‑8490 or jselby@cygnetenterprises.com, or visit the website at www.cygnetenterprises.com.

2014 NWRA Federal Water Issues

Conference Please return completed form by March 24 to Dawn Moore via fax at (770) 424-9468; mail to 1810 Wynthrop Manor Drive, Marietta, GA 30064; or e-mail at travwwnet@gmail.com. If you have any questions regarding registration, contact Dawn Moore at (770) 424-8111 or travwwnet@gmail.com. NAME ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Please indicate how you would like your name to read on your name badge.)

ORGANIZATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ________________________________________________________________________________________________ CITY/STATE/ZIP ___________________________________________________________________________________________ TELEPHONE (______) ______-____________ E-MAIL ___________________________________________________________ REGISTRATION FEE: Includes all breakfasts, all receptions, and conference materials

NWRA Member _________ $450

Life Member _______$100

Nonmember ________$495

Note # of guest tickets requested below Additional breakfast ticket(s) - Monday, March 31 _____ $50 ea = $________ Additional breakfast ticket(s) - Tuesday, April 1 _____ $50 ea = $________ Additional breakfast ticket(s) - Wednesday, April 2 _____ $50 ea = $________ Additional reception ticket(s) - Monday, March 31 _____ $50 ea = $________ Additional reception ticket(s) - Tuesday, April 1 _____ $50 ea = $________ TOTAL $________ Please indicate if you will be attending the “Pruning of the Vine Reception” at the Polly home on Wednesday evening, April 2, by checking “yes” or “no.” There is no charge for this event. Yes______ No_______ METHOD OF PAYMENT (Please print name and account number legibly and check applicable box.) Attached is a check payable to NWRA. Please charge my (circle one):

American Express

MasterCard

Visa

Name (as it appears on card) _______________________________________ Expiration Date: __________________________ Acct. # ________________________________________________ Signature _________________________________________ HOTEL INFORMATION: NWRA has reserved a block of rooms at the Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001, for the conference. Room rates are $334 single/$359 double plus 14.5% tax. Rooms may be reserved at the NWRA rate by calling the hotel directly at (800) 321-3010. Room cancellations must be made 24 hours prior to arrival to avoid a one night’s room and tax charge. The hotel imposes a $75 early departure fee if your departure changes 24 hours prior to arrival. REFUND POLICY: A $25 administrative fee will be charged on all refund requests. Refunds will be processed thirty (30) days after the conference. There will be no refunds for cancellations received after March 24, 2014. All refund requests should be directed to Dawn Moore, using her contact information above.

2014 CALENDAR

February 4–6 February 12–13 February 19–21 February 20–21 February 25–27 March 4–7 March 5–7 March 6 March 17–19 March 22–26 March 31–April 2 April 26–28 May 6–9 May 13–14 May 16 June 4–6

Texas Water Conservation Assn., Texas Water Day, Washington, DC Irrigation Leader, Operations Workshop, Phoenix, AZ Family Farm Alliance, Annual Meeting & Conference, Las Vegas, NV Multi-State Salinity Coalition, Annual Salinity Summit, Las Vegas, NV Assn. of California Water Agencies, Washington Conference, Washington, DC U.S. Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, Water Management Conference, Sacramento, CA Texas Water Conservation Assn., 2014 Annual Convention, The Woodlands, TX Colorado Water Congress, Statewide Basin Roundtable Summit, Golden, CO Utah Water Users Assn., Utah Water Users Workshop, St. George, UT Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, DC Conference, Washington, DC National Water Resources Assn., Federal Water Issues Conference, Washington, DC American Society of Irrigation Consultants, National Conference, Portland, OR Assn. of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference & Exhibition, Monterey, CA Nevada Water Resources Assn., Water Rights in Nevada, Yerington, NV Agribusiness Council of Arizona, Annual Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ Groundwater Management District Assn., Summer Session, Atlantic City, NJ

For more information on advertising in Irrigation Leader magazine, or if you would like a water event listed here, please phone (703) 517-3962 or e-mail Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com. Submissions are due the first of each month preceding the next issue.

Past issues of Irrigation Leader are archived at