Volume 4 Issue 8
September 2013
Big Water, Big District: An Interview with Dave Solem of South Columbia Irrigation District
Self-Reliance and Efficiency By Kris Polly
S
everal months ago, we began focusing each issue of the magazine on individual western states. We adopted this approach to provide a general theme for each issue and to help set some parameters for content. When a single irrigation district can easily provide newsworthy material for an entire magazine, you can appreciate the challenge of selecting article topics. This issue of Irrigation Leader focuses on Washington State, and to fully tell its story, we needed to add eight pages to our typical layout. The primary reason we added pages was to accommodate the article, “Gettin’ It Done: Main Canal Repair at Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District.” This article chronicles the discovery, management, and repair of a canal breach before a full-blown disaster occurred. The article shows the near-seamless cooperation between the districts and Reclamation in managing the flow of the canal and coordinating the repair. Most importantly, it demonstrates how irrigation districts address system failures and effectively implement repairs to continue to deliver water. The article also shows the self-reliance and efficiency of the districts in addressing and fixing their problems. They worked with Reclamation
to manage the flows, but they solved their own problems. That is how the system is designed to work. In the future, irrigation districts will need to increase their self-reliance and efficiency. To that end, the theme of our next Operations and Management Workshop, scheduled for February 12 and 13 in Phoenix, Arizona, will be just that: “Self Reliance and Efficiency.” As with our previous two workshops, irrigation district managers, their respective boards of directors, and district staff will suggest the specific topics for discussion. Please mark your calendar and send us your suggested topics for discussion. Additional information about the workshop will be published in the October issue of Irrigation Leader. 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.
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Irrigation Leader
SEPTEMBER 2013
C O N T E N T S 2 Self-Reliance and Efficiency
Volume 4
Issue 8
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
By Kris Polly
4 Big Water, Big District: An Interview
With Dave Solem of South Columbia Irrigation District
10 Gettin’ It Done: Main Canal Repair at
Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District
By Darvin Fales
Staff: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Crotty, Senior Writer Robin Pursley, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting, LLC, Copyeditor
20 Monitoring Water Quality in the Yakima
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.
Environmental Crisis Created by Odessa Aquifer Depletion
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.
Valley
By Elaine Brouillard
22 Solutions for the Economic and By Mike Schwisow
28 A Warning About Lyme Disease
By Shelley Ruff
District Focus:
30 Yakima–Tieton Irrigation District
By Rick Dieker
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.
Irrigated Crops:
Copyright © 2013 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.
36 Regional Director Terry Fulp
COVER PHOTO: Dave Solem, general manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District, at Radar Hill siphon. Photo taken by Kris Polly on August 12, 2013. Irrigation Leader
34 Cultivating Refreshment: The Story of Mint at Simpson Brothers Farms
By Doug Simpson
RECLAMATION PROFILE:
International:
40 Floriculture in Zambia: Scimitar Farming THE Innovators:
42 AgSense: Irrigating With Your Smartphone 44 Pivotal Advantage: Maximizing Yields on Corner Systems
By Maury Balcom
Intern Profile: 46 Ashlee Giesman
47 CLASSIFIEDS 3
Big Water, Big District: An Interview with Dave Solem of South Columbia Irrigation District
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ave Solem brings 30 years of experience to his work as a district manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District (SCBID). He has managed SCBID for the past 3 years, and prior to that, he served as general manager of the Klamath Irrigation District for 27 years. SCBID is a large district that manages water for growers in the Columbia Basin Project in conjunction with the East Columbia Irrigation District and Quincy–Columbia Irrigation District. Every year, SCBID utilizes 1,000 miles of canals and laterals to divert an average of 850,000 acre-feet to irrigate 234,000 acres of farmland. Dave manages a $20 million annual budget, 110 full-time employees, and a fleet of 250 vehicles and heavy pieces of equipment—excavators, dozers, dump trucks, and mowers. Because of the changes in elevation within SCBID, the district moves water with 200 relift pumps, ranging from 20 horsepower to 2,500 horsepower. In addition, SCBID maintains 400 miles of open drains and 1,000 miles of closed drains. Cropping patterns in the district are dynamic; SCBID growers produce more than 70 crops valued at over $650 million. Primary crops are apples, cherries, wine grapes, potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, sweet and field corn, and a variety of specialty crops. Irrigation Leader magazine’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, recently spoke with Dave about the challenges of managing a large district that supports such a wide variety of crops.
Dave Solem at his desk in the SCBID office. 4
Irrigation Leader
Kris Polly: Describe South District’s water pricing system.
landslides that occur in the bluffs area. Designating critical habitat on rights-of-way makes little sense to me.
Dave Solem: We employ a tiered pricing system for four land classes; each class is allocated a different amount of water. For example, Class 1 represents the most productive land and is allocated the least amount of water—we charge growers on the Class 1 land for 3 acrefeet per acre, and if they want an extra half acre-foot, they can buy it at the same rate. Quantities purchased above the allocation are priced at a higher rate. At the other end of the spectrum, we allocate 5 acre-feet per acre to growers on Class 4 land. The average assessment is $60 an acre. Our growers prepay their assessments. They order on a daily basis. The district regulates all of the delivery points, so we track the total amount of water being used.
Kris Polly: What are your thoughts on the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rules for agricultural water under the Food Safety Modernization Act?
Kris Polly: In addition to maintaining and delivering water in a district the size of South, what are some of the major challenges facing the district? Dave Solem: All of the regulatory issues are here: Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Reclamation regulations, Food Safety Modernization Act, and the Columbia River Treaty. We also have the employment and safety regulations. A new biological opinion for the Columbia River is being developed. There is a proposed listing for the White Bluffs bladderpod, a small plant that grows near the west boundary of the district along the bluffs above the Columbia River. If listed, it becomes a large issue because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has implicated irrigation as contributing to the rate of
Dave Solem: First, there has not been a safety issue with the crops grown in the Columbia Basin Project (CBP). SCBID’s job is to move water through the canals. We believe that we are delivering good quality water, but it is a large-volume, open system. You couldn’t treat the volume of water we move; it’s just not feasible. The challenge will be to develop reasonable rules so that our farmers can continue to grow safe food in a way that doesn’t bankrupt them. Kris Polly: What have been some of the major differences and challenges moving from the Klamath Project to the CBP? Dave Solem: I consider SCBID to be one of the toptier districts in the West—it has a lot of acres, a complex infrastructure, and hydroelectric generation. Everything is on a large scale: the miles of canals, number of employees, the John Keys III Pump-Generating Plant, and CBP reserved work facilities. Learning a new and large system doesn’t happen overnight. One of the main differences between the two projects is the water supply available for the project. The Columbia River is typically reliable year after year. The Klamath Project water supply was more challenging for many reasons. In both places, a manager has to be ready to adapt
View at Radar Hill siphon.
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to the issue of the day, and there is no shortage of issues. You have to be able to wear many hats. Kris Polly: Do you have a program to enclose your canals and laterals? Dave Solem: Over the last five years, we have piped about 20 miles of laterals and lined about 5 miles of our larger canals. Two years ago, Reclamation awarded the district a WaterSMART grant to concrete line a large earthen canal for three-quarters of a mile. Water conservation drives these projects. We work under a coordinated conservation plan with the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District and the Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District on projects to make conserved water available for land in East District. Our district is extremely dependent on return flows from the other districts, so we spend a lot of time ensuring that SCBID is not affected by their conservation projects. Kris Polly: What do you envision for South District’s future? Dave Solem: The district wa fortunate to have had very good managers before my arrival. SCBID’s infrastructure has been maintained at a high level.
However, our system is more than 50 years old, and some of the infrastructure now needs replacement or major overhauls. Keeping ahead of aging infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges for the project. Another aspect of that challenge is keeping the water affordable for our growers as we make improvements. It will require longrange planning so future growers have a reliable system. We are looking at expanding our hydroelectric-generation capability with small in-canal projects. Through the Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority, our power arm, we currently have seven hydro plants that generate 130 megawatts. We have developed the sites best suited for power development on the canals. Profits from electricity sales are split among the three districts, and we use them to maintain infrastructure. We are now looking at sites that have hydropowergeneration potential, but that may be more challenging to develop. Streamlined federal regulatory processes for development were recently approved and should be beneficial. In the 1970s, it was determined that additional conveyance capacity was needed to move water to Potholes Reservoir in order to provide a more reliable supply to SCBID. A supplemental feed route diverting water from Banks Lake to Potholes Reservoir was determined to be the best option, and Reclamation is in the process of acquiring the easements for the route. This channel also has wetland and wildlife benefits. Kris Polly: Based on your years of experience, what is the most important thing every manager should know? Dave Solem: You can’t manage everything on your own. There are so many moving parts to the job that you absolutely have to have a good team around you. I have been pretty lucky. Many of my best friends work in the business: other managers, directors, attorneys, consultants for districts, and staff. They are good people who make the work enjoyable.
View at SCBID project area. Note the difference between the irrigated apple orchard (left) and the high desert, which receives 8" or less of annual rainfall (right).
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Irrigation Leader
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Gettin’ It Done: Main Canal Repair at Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District By Darvin Fales
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anal breaches require quick thinking and swift action. Earlier this year, the Main Canal of the Columbia Basin Project (CBP) had cracked concrete panels cave in, presenting a potential breach and threatening deliveries to hundreds of thousands of irrigated acres at a crucial time of the growing year. There were 250,000 acres in Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District (QCBID) and 154,000 acres in the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (ECBID) directly affected by the panel collapse and at risk for being shut off from water for a significant amount of time. Our job was to effectively address the panel failure and ensure that our growers received their water as soon as possible. Main Canal is a high-volume conduit with a capacity of just short of 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). It bifurcates, sending 5,100 cfs to the West Canal for QCBID and 4,800 cfs to the East Low Canal for ECBID. The panel collapse appeared in the upper section of the Main Canal, about one-fourth of a mile downstream from the headworks at Pinto Dam. Three large radial gates—20 feet wide by 27 feet high and weighing 4 or 5 tons—govern outflow from Billy Clapp Lake into Main Canal via a SCADA system. QCBID works under a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation to maintain the Reserved Works portion of the Columbia Basin Project. The cracked panels in the Main Canal were located in a part of the canal system monitored and operated by Reclamation. Reclamation can hire a contractor to do any repairs or do the repairs itself, and the Columbia Basin Districts would pay for it, but in this case, it was most economical and expeditious for Reclamation to let the districts do the repair work. The districts worked collaboratively with Reclamation. John O’Callaghan, hydraulic engineer in Reclamation’s Ephrata office, was involved with every step along the way of the repair process. A Reclamation canal rider inspects that section of the canal every day. A few years ago, he identified the beginning of a crack, but it was not deemed significant. Reclamation put it on watch; however, the complete failure of the section was totally unexpected.
Identification and First Steps
The call came in on Monday, April 29, just after lunch.
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Our office got the call from Reclamation saying that panels were broken and collapsing just downstream of the Main Canal head works at Billy Clap Lake. That morning, Reclamation engineers looked at the cracked panel and assessed the severity of the cave-in. Standing on the ditch bank, it did not take us very long to determine that because of the time of the year, when water orders were about to escalate, time was of the essence. Craig Simpson [ECBID secretary-manager],
Timeline of Events From recorded notes of QCBID Technical Services Assistant Manager Roger Sonnichsen Monday 4/29 Time
Notes
12:55
Call from Bob Law (office on-duty person); U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) reporting broken panels just downstream of Main Canal (MC) headworks at Billy Clapp on right side; Darvin Fales (DF) and Troy Freeman (TF) en route to inspect.
13:02
Call DF en-route expecting East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (ECBID) manager and USBR onsite to assess; decided best if I stay back at office.
13:03
Call TF inform him I will stay at office.
14:36
Call DF. MC needs to be fixed and water will need to be lowered 8’ to 10’; USBR beginning to lower ASAP—removing feed water from East Low Canal (EL) will lower bifurcation control elevation.
16:30
Develop district dewater plan, DF, TF, DK, Roger Sonnichsen (RS); draft High Hill Reach plan; plan for big minus on next day of about 1,000 cfs; should make full deliveries on Tues., impact will begin Wed.; PM order was plus 300; take the 300 from USBR to help remove EL feed.
18:00
Make a site visit with DF. Plan to go to USBR first thing to discuss plan.
Irrigation Leader
Cracked and collapsed panel along QCBID's Main Canal.
Irrigation Leader
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John O’Callaghan, Reclamation’s manager for Irrigation Operations & Technical Services, and I weighed whether we should go for a temporary fix to get by or do a full-out repair. We decided to do a full repair immediately. It was just too critical of a structure to try to bandage the panels and risk them failing again later in the season. Later that day, we worked out our dewatering plan. The first step we took that night was to immediately shut off feed water carried by the East Low Canal. At Rocky Coulee, 2,000 cfs of feed water is passed through the East Low. That water goes to Potholes Reservoir for use by the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District (SCBID). We began shutting off the feed water immediately.
Tuesday 4/30 Time
Notes
7:15
Visit USBR. Phone call meeting–DF, John O’Callaghan (JO), RS. Bifurcation at minimum head, gates full open, EL feed 1,500 cfs was removed. MC was 3’ lower at Mile 0.2, about 1.5’ from removed feed, 1.5’ from lowering Bifurcation 3.5’. Discussed that district would lower High Hill Reach 5’; will help district supply needed to allow bifurcation to continue to lower. Plan to lower at 0.2’/hr target for 9:00 am next day; plan for slower dewater of MC from this point, target for MC 0.2 Mile elevation of 1,325 at 7:00 am Thursday 5/2. Slow dewater to protect panels and allow deliveries overnight for frost warning; district to expect 1,000 cfs minus by Wed.
10:30
District meeting Watermasters (WM), main office. Discuss the emergency, dewater, and need for 1,000 cfs minus; discuss repair planning, equipment needed, safety plan, design for concrete, amount of material. Precon meeting onsite for 10:00 am Wed.; plan for site work from 7:00 am to 10:00 am Thurs.
12:10
Contact AAA Concrete to discuss need for concrete emergency repair and quick-setting mix.
12:30
Make site visit with Tamara Brost, John Mele, Todd Knittel to review site safety needs. Plan for safety line, spotters with buoys, safety harnesses. Engineers discuss concrete mix needs—fast setting.
16:30
WM order was -1,000; mtg w/ DF, TF, DK, RS. USBR scheduled SCADA times for MC 0.2 Mile to reach 1,325 by 7:00 am 5/2; Discussed that the district would possibly see a reduction greater than 1,000 cfs; will assess in the morning.
Factoring in Hydrostatic Pressure
The rectangular panels lining the Main Canal are roughly 10 feet high and 12 feet wide, stacked four high from the bottom of the canal to the top. Each panel contains approximately 1.5 cubic yards of concrete that weigh 4,000–5,000 pounds. At the site of the panel collapse, Main Canal is 23.5 feet deep from the bottom of the canal to the top of the concrete lining, with a water depth of 21 feet at normal operation. To work on the cracked panels, we needed to drop the water level 8 to 10 feet. Reclamation normally dewaters the Main Canal at a rate of about 1 foot per day. The concrete lining functions as a type of erosion protection, but it is not completely impervious. The soil behind the lining is saturated with water when water is flowing through the canal. Dewatering removes the pressure from the inside walls of the canal, leaving the backside of the liner at a higher pressure and opening up the possibility of pushing the concrete panels out into the canal. So under normal conditions, we bring the water down slowly to give time for the water to drain out of the soil and relieve the hydrostatic pressure behind the concrete panels. We realized that it was going to take at least a week of dewatering before we could get crews in to start working on the repair, so we accelerated the plan due to the emergency nature of the situation. By shutting off the feed water from the East Low Canal, we anticipated that the first 2 feet of water could come off quickly. Reclamation lowered the water level 3 feet in the first 18 hours and then slowed it down. The next 3 feet took 24 hours. District and Reclamation crews monitored the impact of dewatering on the canal structure. Crews patrolled the canal and checked for other panel cave-ins.
Construction Planning
On Tuesday, April 30, we worked out our preconstruction plan. We had every available QCBID hand on deck—30 people—in addition to Reclamation
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and ECBID staff working around the clock, so we needed everyone on the same page. The plan set forth the project timeline, coordination efforts, and project goals. The plan was to phase crews in and out at different stages of the project. One crew would go in and remove the concrete panels; another would bring in the gravel. One would install the wooden forms; another poured the concrete. QCBID Technical Services Assistant Manager Roger Sonnichsen coordinated with a concrete company to have Irrigation Leader
Framing atop the embankment.
Ready to place concrete. Pumper truck in position. Irrigation Leader
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Wednesday 5/1 Time
Notes
7:30
Visit with DK on canal status. Made deliveries overnight; low water elevation at FH Tunnel; plan to cut water from Blythe and Royal to keep pumping plant running if needed.
9:20
Call from DK. Looks like USBR cut was more like 1,300 cfs, expecting only -1,000 from WM; will be short 300 cfs. USBR reporting will need to cut 500 to 1,000 cfs additional to get to 1,325’.
9:25
Call DF discuss the status. Recommend shutting off or accelerating work; plan to discuss at precon onsite.
10:05
Mtg at MC repair site. USBR (JO), SCBID (DS), QCBID (DF,TF,RS); discuss the actual amount of water USBR will be able to deliver. USBR confirms it would only be 2,000 cfs from Billy Clapp, to be split by districts; discuss to risk of accelerated dewater, discuss impacts to district. Revise plan; dewater target elevation of MC 0.2 Mile of 1,325 set for 17:00 Wed. Complete demo, reshape by dark, meet at 5:00 Thurs., finish forms, concrete at 7:00 Thurs.
11:30
11:50
DF, TF, RS discuss need to shut off district water beginning today and shutting down pump plants. USBR (JO) called to report a second site needing repair upstream from Road F NE. Inspect with USBR.
12:00
Inspect High Hill reach; no issues found.
12:02
Call DF to inform him we need to repair 5 panels at second site.
12:10
DK discussed that district should keep major pump plants on priming water. Clarified with TF and DF that we would be on priming water with pumping plants.
the concrete delivered exactly when we needed it, day or night. He was also working with Reclamation on the concrete recipe to get an early set. Led by QCBID’s safety officer, Tamara Brost, we also put a safety plan into place as we waited for the water levels to go down. Our crew had to work directly over canal water, so we had to ensure that they were all harnessed, tethered, and fit with lifejackets. Downstream of the breach, we set up two locations with buoy lines and 14
13:00
Meet DF upstream from Road F NE. Plan for ECBID to mob and repair, QCBID provide some support. Plan to place concrete Thurs. morning.
13:30
Travel to main office for concrete submittal from AAA and review.
16:00
Meet ECBID (Mike Mansfield) onsite; discuss second pump truck and concrete. Pump truck supplier not able to provide two; plan to use one truck.
16:30
Meet DF onsite discuss single-pump truck option. DF ask main office to look for additional pump truck. Stan Butler ask from inspection of work site at MC 0.25 Mile site, issue with next row of panels.
17:00
Additional pump truck located out of Walla Walla.
17:05
Inspect MC 0.25 Mile site with USBR (JO). Small shift of one panel, no voids; plan to proceed as planned with replacement of 6 panels as was removed. Existing material in subgrade will make good base. Direct crew to proceed with gravel backfill.
17:30
Ask to have water level reduced one more foot, to 1.5’ below work zone. Measure work site confirm with concrete crew would need 18 cyds of concrete.
18:30
Confirm with AAA Concrete need for 18 cyds of concrete at Billy Clapp site and approximately 18 cyds at Road F NE site, both at 7:00 am.
20:00
Inspect forms and subgrade at MC 0.25 Mile site all; give ok.
20:30
Check with ECBID on concrete quantity, estimate still for 18 cyds, site not complete.
retrieval teams in case someone did fall into the canal. The work required a good deal of equipment, including a long-stick backhoe, a bulldozer, and a crane. The cavein was in a remote area of our project. QCBID does not store equipment in that area, so QCBID O&M Assistant Manager Troy Freeman had to transport it from as far away as Royal City—50 miles away from the repair site. We also needed pumper trucks. We found one through our normal channels, but due to a second repair (which Irrigation Leader
Crew placing concrete from pumper truck while standing on top of screed that is chained to backhoe bucket.
I will discuss), Todd Knittel, QCBID assistant engineer, scrambled and found another truck out of Walla Walla, 140 miles to the south of the repair site.
Making the Repairs
The initial plan was to maintain the integrity of the Main Canal by lowering it slowly and meeting as many deliveries in the canal system as possible. As we dewatered, once the water reached a specific height in the canal, our farm deliveries dropped off. Some of growers desperately needed water for frost control. The orchards were vulnerable, so we were trying to get as much water to them as possible. When we realized that we would not be able to do that, we decided to dewater as quickly as possible, make the repair, and get the water back. So that Wednesday, May 1, Reclamation dewatered at a higher rate than normal. It was a risk that we weighed against the value of the crops threatened by lack of water. Normally, when we have the time to work and replace cracked panels, we overdig them and replace the soil below them with gravel. Then we place the Huesker liner over
Irrigation Leader
the top of the gravel, and pour concrete over the liner. But in an emergency repair like this one, we just put the gravel down and poured concrete 5 or 6 inches thick right on top of the gravel. On Thursday, May 2, we poured three toptiered panels and three middle-tiered panels at the site of the initial cave-in. Due to the quick dewatering, six panels collapsed about 5 miles downstream of the initial panel cave-in site. Our concerns about pressure imbalances were realized. Because we dedicated all QCBID crews to the initial breach, we called upon ECBID to help with the downstream panels. With water levels within the canal low enough for construction efforts on the top-tiered panels, ECBID crews were able to quickly replace six panels.
Rewatering the Canal
For the same reasons that it is standard procedure to slowly dewater a canal, it is also normal procedure to slowly rewater a canal. With that in mind, our main concern was the introduction of high water velocities to fresh concrete. So we used Heusker liner to prevent any potential erosion. 15
We did not want to have to go back and replace the panels in the winter, so the liner served as an inexpensive insurance policy. Our crew attached the liner to the canal with a batting of metal straps that are three-eighths or one-half inch thick. We then drilled holes in the metal batting and laid it over the top of the liner at the edges. The crew anchored the batting into the concrete. The Heusker liner is still there, but it will be removed this winter. While our initial plan had been to deliver by Sunday, we were able to deliver water to our growers by Friday. The speed and effectiveness of the project is a testament to the planning, communication, hard work, and cooperation of the respective staffs of Reclamation, ECBID, and QCBID. Their collaborative efforts turned a potentially disastrous situation into a manageable disruption of irrigation deliveries, accomplished without any claim for damages or injury. I couldn’t be more proud of our team’s restoration of the delivery service critical to our water users. Darvin Fales is the secretarymanager of the Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District.
Thursday 5/2 Time
Notes
00:30
ECBID completed site; ready for concrete
5:00
Onsite to measure Road F NE site. Based on measurements, estimated 20 cyds of concrete needed.
5:30
Called AAA Concrete; ordered 20 cyds for each site for 7:00 am.
6:00
ECBID and QCBID crews onsite.
6:05
Concrete pump trucks onsite; begin to set up.
7:00
Concrete truck onsite at MC 0.25 Mile site.
8:00
Water startup planning: Discussion for water start up; (DK, TF, RS) plan for getting water from USBR at 10:00. Water will reach tunnel at 22:00. Plan to use what water is available to get some water moving ahead. Begin filling High Hill Reach; plan for full deliveries beginning Fri. 5/3. Ditch riders to start at 5:00.
8:15
Complete use of concrete pump truck and use of screed; removing forms.
9:15
Complete concrete finish work; begin installation of liner.
10:00
Complete installation of liner: ECBID (Mike Mansfield) onsite reporting complete at Road F NE site; USBR (JO) onsite to inspect; confirm ok to begin filling of canal. Friday 5/3
Time
Notes
14:00
Fence repaired; earth berm installed.
Smoothing out the fresh concrete. 16
Irrigation Leader
Repair crew anchoring Huesker lining atop the new panels. Safety harnesses are worn by everyone on ditch bank.
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Monitoring Water Quality in the Yakima Valley By Elaine Brouillard
F
or the past 17 years, the Roza–Sunnyside Board of Joint Control (RSBOJC) has operated a water-quality program that focuses on turbidity and bacteria but also collects and stores a broad array of water-quality parameters. RSBOJC initially created its Water Quality Department to help farmers cope with new water-quality standards for turbidity, but the department has since expanded to provide many other benefits to the landowners and to the Lower Yakima community. In 1994, a group of landowners approached the Roza Irrigation District and the Sunnyside Division and suggested forming a joint committee to begin addressing mutual concerns. Yakima County approved the RSBOJC on August 13, 1996. The directors are the board members of the two entities. The RSBOJC serves approximately 163,000 acres in the lower Yakima Valley in Central Washington. The RSBOJC Water Quality Laboratory was started in 1997 and is accredited by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The lab focuses on obtaining compliance with
Washington’s total maximum daily load turbidity of 25 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) for return flows discharging from lands under the RSBOJC jurisdiction to the Yakima River. Board policy directs the collection and analysis of farm runoff into project drains. Two employees staff the lab and monitor 160 miles of canals, 780 miles of laterals, 325 miles of drains, and four major return wasteways to the Yakima River. When turbidity exceeds 300 NTU from an on-farm water sample, the farmer is in violation of the water-quality policy. The farmer is required to complete and submit both a short-term and a long-term water-quality plan that addresses the runoff. If the short-term plan is not submitted, approved, and implemented, the RSBOJC will reduce water-delivery services. Water will not be turned on in the following irrigation season until the landowner submits a long-term plan. Despite what some would view as harsh enforcement, 95 percent compliance is obtained through education and incentives. This on-farm runoff program has been very successful, bringing three of the four joint drains into compliance within three years. Approximately 95 percent of the sediment previously reaching the Yakima
Matt Morgan, RSBOJC water quality technician, sampling with DH 81 for TSS in Granger Drain, WA. 20
Irrigation Leader
Elaine testing samples in the lab.
River has been eliminated. The lab conducts a full-year ambient-water-quality sampling program, collecting water parameters of pH, temperature, turbidity, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, and specific conductance; bacteria, such as fecal coliform and E. coli; and nutrients, such as total phosphate, ortho-phosphate, total nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and ammonia. Nutrient samples are analyzed offsite, whereas all other water parameters tests are performed in-house. The lab now has a robust database of samples from 1997 to the present showing positive trends by landowners who use best management practices, keeping agriculture return flow at or near compliance with state standards. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and state irrigation system aquatic-weed-control permits require monitoring of Endothall, Acrolein, Xylene and dissolved copper pesticides used in any irrigation canal that reaches surface waters of the state. The lab samples for the herbicide concentration, sends the samples to an external laboratory for results, and fills out the required monthly and annual permit reporting. The districts’ aquatic-weed treatments require an accurate knowledge of the time it takes for the herbicide application to flow past closed wasteway gates or to its final spill to the Yakima Irrigation Leader
River. The lab performs time-of-travel studies on canals and laterals using Rhodamine WT fluorescent tracer dye and a continuous fluorometer. Based on the time-of-travel studies, the lab can take samples during the peak herbicide concentration at points of compliance. The lab samples for suspected fecal coliform bacteria in the canals or drains. Health concerns of employees concerning exposure to fecal coliform while working are a strong motivator for testing. In addition, canals are sampled for E. coli at six locations once a month during the irrigation season. These data are available to landowners for their Department of Agriculture good agricultural practices (GAP) or global gap requirements. Lab personnel meet with other water-quality specialists from the Yakima and Columbia Projects to discuss issues that affect all the districts. Lab personnel also coordinate with counterparts in other agencies on mutual issues. Elaine Brouillard, M.W.R.A., has been the RSBOJC water quality supervisor for eight years. For more information about the RSBOJC water-quality program, you can reach Elaine at brouillarde@svid.org. 21
Solutions for the Economic and Environmental Crisis Created by Odessa Aquifer Depletion By Mike Schwisow
T
he Odessa Groundwater Management Area aquifer, within the federal Columbia Basin Project (CBP) service area, is being depleted rapidly. Depletion could cause a loss of 100,000 acres of highly productive irrigated farmland and threaten drinking water supplies for nearly 200,000 people. The Columbia Basin Groundwater Management Area (a local groundwater management agency in Washington State) has conducted hydrogeology studies in Adams, Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln counties and has surveyed deep-well conditions in the affected area. Results indicate an increasing incidence of well production declines; failures will extend to most of the wells in the area by 2021. The problem goes back to the late 1960s, when the Washington State Department of Ecology granted permits for deep wells, even though it recognized that the aquifer was being mined. The agency was responding to permit applications from farmers in the area known as the Odessa Subarea, on the eastern side of the CBP service area. This area was not scheduled to receive project water supplies for a number of years. But with incremental development proceeding normally, the Washington State Department of Ecology felt it could issue the permits and then turn off the wells when project water arrived. However, development of the project stopped in late 1980s due to uncertainty related to the Endangered Species Act and changes in Reclamation repayment policies. Now, continued pumping is depleting the Odessa aquifer. The aquifer contains old water that is not being recharged by surface infiltration. Drinking water supplies and agricultural irrigation are threatened as wells are forced deeper, yielding poorer quality water. The number of wells failing altogether is increasing. A study done by Adams County in 2007 showed over $200 million in irrigated crops produced annually in the area. Besides losing crop production, total impacts include declines in regional trucking and marketing activities; indirect effects from the loss of input purchasing by the agricultural, trucking, and marketing industries; and the induced impacts of the loss of household consumption due to reduced payrolls. The estimate for these threats stands at $300 million. Estimated job loss would be over 4,500 jobs, or about 32 percent of the total jobs in the project area. 22
The Columbia Basin Development League focused attention on the problem, which resulted in Reclamation and the Washington State Department of Ecology initiating the Odessa Subarea Special Study (OSSS). The OSSS is limited to developing a plan to replace deep-well irrigation on project-eligible lands with a CBP water supply. The Preferred Alternative, developed in the OSSS, maximizes the use of the existing project infrastructure to reach the largest number of Odessa Subarea acres at an economically feasible cost. The plan calls for widening the southern portion of the existing
Irrigation Leader
THE TIMELINE: PROGRESS to a SOLUTION for the ODESSA AQUIFER CRISIS
2003—Columbia Basin Development League hosts public forums to raise public awareness of the aquifer depletion problem.
2004—Reclamation, Dept. of Energy (DOE) and CBP irrigation districts sign MOU agreeing to work together on mutual interests. 2004—Work begins on solutions to CBP issues, including Odessa aquifer.
2004—Work begins on sharing CBP water supplies to meet municipal and industrial needs in region.
2005—Legislature provides $16 million in capital budget for MOU projects. 2005—Gov. Gregoire commits state as cost-share partner in Reclamation's Odessa Subarea Special Study (OSSS). 2005—Congress appropriates funds for federal share of study costs.
2006—State legislature enacts Columbia River Water Supply Development Act, directs DOE to find alternatives to groundwater in the Odessa Subarea aquifer, and dedicates CBP-conserved water to Odessa aquifer replacement supply. 2006—DOE creates Office of Columbia River (OCR), which leads state participation in OSSS.
2006—OSSS focuses on alternatives for water supply replacement for deep wells on 102,000 eligible acres. 2009—DOE OCR creates Lake Roosevelt Releases Program and issues water right permit to replace deep wells on 10,000 acres of Odessa Subarea lands.
2009—Construction begins on $36 million stimulus-funded Weber Coulee Siphon Project on East Low Canal.
2010—Reclamation and DOE OCR publish draft environmental impact statement (EIS), which identifies four alternatives for water delivery and supply.
2010—Responding to comments, Reclamation and DOE OCR formulate a modified plan for further study. 2011—Reclamation and DOE sign 25,000 acre-feet water service contract, allowing OCR to start issuing new permits for municipal and industrial purposes. 2012—Reclamation and DOE OCR publish final EIS with feasible Preferred Alternative with water for 70,000 acres.
2012—Reclamation completes ESA sec. 7 consultation on Preferred Alternative with National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2013—Reclamation issues Record of Decision to conclude OSSS.
2013—Reclamation makes application to DOE for Water Permit for Preferred Alternative. 2013—Construction on East Low Canal widening begins.
East Low Canal, which currently supplies water to over 150,000 acres, so it can supply an additional 70,000 acres in the Odessa Subarea. Reclamation estimated costs for the plan at about $75 million for the East Low Canal portion and $700 million for the pump and pipeline that would carry water to the deep well irrigated lands east of the canal. The OSSS Record of Decision, signed by Reclamation Regional Director Lorri Lee, recognized that federal funding of the proposed project would be difficult to get and was not committed at the current time. East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, which serves the Odessa Subarea lands, is currently working to identify funding options that will rely on existing irrigation district authorities, such as the issuance of revenue bonds. The Washington legislature gave the effort a jump start by appropriating nearly $30 million during the 2013 session to begin the job of widening the East Low Canal. Mike is the CBDL's Director of Government Relations. He is a former deputy director of the Washington Department of Agriculture. You can reach Mike via email at mschwisow@aol.com.
2013—East Columbia Basin Irrigation District develops local financing structure with landowners. Irrigation Leader
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A Warning About Lyme Disease By Shelley Ruff
I
t’s another morning. As I lay here I wonder: Is it going to be a bad day, or a really bad day? Feeling as though a truck has hit me, I try to move my stiffened body as aches and pains shoot through me like a sword. I brace myself, get up, and slowly move my fragile, unstable legs, step by step, to get to the bathroom. As I pass the mirror, I can’t help but stare at the person I have become since getting Lyme disease in 2004. I struggle to get dressed. I put on my sweatpants, a T-shirt, and often long underwear, because I am always cold. Every day, I notice that I have no strength, my muscles have atrophied, and I continue losing weight. I get to the kitchen to begin taking my 100-plus medications, which must be done for my health, my life. As I swallow my pills, I roll my eyes in frustration, knowing that the medications aren’t working. Most of my days are spent lying on the couch and living in pain. On some days, I am blessed and get a few good hours for researching Lyme disease, trying to find answers to help my sickness, going to doctor appointments, or picking up medication. By noon, I am ready for the day to be over; ready to give up. It’s too much. If it weren’t for all the love and support I get from my loved ones, I couldn’t do it. I thank God every day for them. Since being diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2011, my life is a shadow of what it used to be. As I read everything I can about Lyme disease, I realize I must do what I can to help educate and inform people. Lyme disease is an extremely complex disease and is often poorly understood by doctors. The Centers for Disease Control has singled out Lyme disease as the most common and fastest-growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the country. When a tick bites, it can pass along the infection that causes Lyme disease. Ticks have a natural anesthetic, so when they begin biting you, you don’t feel it. Most of what you read about Lyme disease indicates that if you are bitten, you will get a bull’s-eye rash; however, the classic rash has been seen in as few as 30 percent of cases, while the other 70 percent typically don’t show any signs of having been bitten. Lyme disease’s symptoms may show up fast, with a bang, or very slowly and innocuously. There may be initial
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flu-like symptoms, with fever, headache, nausea, jaw pain, fatigue, depression, light sensitivity, muscle ache, and neck stiffness. If you are bitten by a tick or any other biting insect and develop any rash at all, or do not feel good within a few hours, go immediately to the doctor. Depending on how much they know about Lyme, they will typically put you on two to three weeks of doxycycline. You may have to be quite adamant with your doctor. It is better to err on the side of caution. Treatment in this early stage is critical. There is no cure and there is no one-size-fits-all treatment. The goal is to put the disease into remission. Some Lyme patients may only take one to five years to be symptom free (but subject to flare-ups for the rest of their lives). Other patients never recover. The longer the patient goes undiagnosed (and therefore untreated), the more difficult it is for the disease to go into remission. When left untreated, or undertreated, victims suffer extreme, incapacitating pain; illnesses; and sometimes death. I urge you to wear mosquito spray whenever you are outdoors. Apply tick spray on your clothes 10 or 15 minutes before you put them on. Make sure you thoroughly check for ticks when you, your loved ones, and your pets have been outdoors. Also, when outdoors, wear light-colored clothing, long sleeves, and long pants with rubber bands around the ankles. Prevention is the best way to ensure that you will not contract Lyme disease. For now, I must continue the fight and wage war on my Lyme disease. I drag up every ounce of my strength and determination to get through another day. I am strong, and I know that one day, I will shine again. This article is for educational purposes only and not for diagnostic purposes. Shelley Ruff was the financial manager for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Great Plains Region for 30 years. She has filed for disability retirement while she continues to undergo treatment for Lyme disease. Irrigation Leader
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District Focus
Yakima–Tieton Irrigation District By Rick Dieker
Y
akima–Tieton Irrigation District (YTID) occupies the foothills of the Cascades in southcentral Washington State. YTID is part of the Yakima Project, lying west of Yakima River between the Naches River and Ahtanum Creek. The district diverts on average 85,000 acre-feet a year of water from the Tieton River into its 220-mile distribution system, serving 4,000 accounts and 28,000 acres. The primary crops are apples, pears, and cherries from high-density orchards. YTID is primarily a senior rights district. The Yakima Basin on average produces 3 million acre-feet of water with 2.4 million acre-feet of allocated water rights and 1 million acre-feet of storage in five reservoirs. For all users, including YTID, snowpack acts as our sixth reservoir. In years when there is not enough water, many of the districts in the Yakima Basin are prorated, but for YTID, with about a 75 percent nonproratable water right and an efficient system, we are able to get through most drought low-water years. Our system is pressurized. System pressure ranges from 240 pounds per square inch (psi) in the main line pressure to below 200 psi in the laterals. YTID tries to deliver water at 60 psi to individual landowners. We have a demand system in which we bill on a flat rate basis per share of water. One share of water enables a user to receive 4.9 gallons per minute. YTID averages 1.2 shares per acre in the project. Each delivery is assigned a fixed quantity of water based on the water right, whereby users can take their maximum instantaneous flow. YTID runs two inline hydro stations with a total of 3 megawatts of capacity. We utilize the 1,000 feet of elevation drop from one end of the district to the 30
other to generate our power. We have been selling power wholesale to a local utility, PacifiCorp, since 1986. We generate 6.5 to 7 million kilowatt-hours through irrigation season, which runs from April 1 to midOctober.
History
The United States began construction on project facilities in 1906 and started delivering water four years later. The project’s main canal has been delivering water ever since. Project operators were unable to send a sufficient amount of water down the canal for growers, so in 1918, they raised the sides of the canal by a foot and a half to increase capacity and deliver more water. YTID assumed operation and maintenance of delivery facilities in 1947. In the mid-eighties, YTID replaced the distribution system with 210 miles of a closed-pipe pressure system to provide 85 percent of its service area with gravity-pressured water. This project was funded through the Bureau of Reclamation’s Rehabilitation and Betterment Program, in addition to loans and grants from the State of Washington. As far as I know, YTID is the first reclamation project to repay two debt obligations to the United States. Upon assuming management of the project
Yakima–Tieton main canal circa 1910. Irrigation Leader
in 1947, the district repaid its original construction indebtedness. And in 1988, through a bond issue, YTID again repaid its obligations covering the costs of installing the pressurized distribution system.
Main Canal Maintenance
We are expanding our maintenance on the main canal to keep it in shape while we are developing a long-term plan. Our main canal is a 12‑mile long, horseshoe-shaped concrete flume—9 miles of open canal and 3 miles of tunnels—that sits on a hillside. The canal is subject to rock fall, landslides, and other natural events. For example, after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, leaving a 1‑inch layer of ash on the watershed, a severe rainstorm event damaged a section of the canal, and several miles were filled in with debris. Overall, the canal is in a difficult location. There is a trail running along the canal, and one of our crew walks its entire length every other day over the summer. Maintenance is labor intensive. So long term, we are looking at how we can upgrade the canal. We need to change the infrastructure to ensure that we can continue to deliver water effectively. We are looking to get a plan together prior to the repayment of our debt service in 2018.
Efficiently Tackling the Endangered Species Act To help conserve steelhead trout in the Yakima Basin, YTID has entered into a water-delivery agreement with landowners located in our district, but not within our boundaries. Cowiche Creek is a natural stream that runs through the middle of YTID with water rights dating back to the 1870s. This creek is prime habitat for steelhead, and an important part of its recovery is stream-flow enhancement. We have been working Reclamation, the North Yakima Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, and several state agencies to wheel water to landowners on about 500 acres along the creek. YTID will divert water from the Tieton River and deliver water through our distribution system to the landowners, who will leave their natural flow right in-stream. This effort stems from a regional effort to address Endangered Species Act issues. The irrigation district is
part of the Yakima Basin Joint Board, which represents the major irrigation districts in the region and the City of Yakima. The Board employs a fish biologist who, in 2003, was investigating the installation of better fish screens on Cowiche Creek diversions. From those investigations, the district, in conjunction with Reclamation and other state and federal agencies, looked into using the money intended for screens for wheeling water to the landowners. We have been working on the project for the last 10 years. It took some time to get all the pieces together and get our board of directors comfortable with the idea of providing a service outside the bounds of our usual routine. Ultimately, the board recognized this as an opportunity to improve infrastructure within the context of fish recovery, to help the district obtain funding for the long term, and to manage Endangered Species Act–related risk. To make a long story short, because of the efficiencies created by our pressurized distribution system, we have some extra capacity to wheel this water in the short term and make the system part of a fish and habitat restoration project. The wheeling agreement could be the basis for future regional cooperation and funding. YTID could probably wheel water to another 700 acres in the basin if we had the extra capacity in our existing infrastructure. We are undertaking a feasibility study right now to see what our options are. We have money from a few sources to do the study: the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Program and the Reclamation Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Program. We should have the first feasibility report completed by the end of the year.
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
YTID’s board of directors has been forward looking. I am proud of the fact that YTID was able to replace the open distribution system with a pressurized pipeline system early in my time here. More recently, I think we have done an effective job of operating, maintaining, and upgrading the distribution system at a fair price. Looking ahead, I would like to see a plan in place for the main canal to be upgraded or replaced within the next 5 or 10 years, so that it remains a reliable water distribution artery for another 100 years. Rick Dieker has worked for the Yakima–Tieton Irrigation District for 34 years. A 1979 graduate of Oregon State University, he has spent his entire career with YTID, starting out as a ditch rider, then moving on to be an engineering tech, the assistant manager, and, finally, general manager in 1997. You can reach Rick at (509) 678‑4101 or Rickdieker@yvn.com.
Protective cover atop the Yakima–Tieton main canal. Irrigation Leader
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Cultivating Refreshment: The Story of Mint at Simpson Brothers Farms
Irrigated Crops
By Doug Simpson
no longer feasible in the 1970s after the Utah–Idaho Sugar Company closed its plant and pulled out of oug and John Simpson are third-generation the area. In the early 1990s, however, after growing farmers in the Yakima Valley, south of the a variety of crops over the years, including potatoes, Yakima River. One hundred years ago, Alex grapes, asparagus, and dry beans, the Simpson family Simpson broke ground out of sagebrush on the decided to try growing mint again. The family took the Yakima Federal Reclamation Project, one of the first opportunity to invest in a mint still, which is needed to created after passage of the Reclamation Act. Doug extract the mint oil. and John’s father, George Simpson, got into mint The Simpson brothers grew the mint on the same production in the late 1940s. The crop moved out ground as their dad back in the 1950s. After about west from Indiana, where the main mint production three years, the wilt returned. They decided to look for in the United States was located at the time. George ground with no history of mint production, where the grew peppermint on about 80 acres of land. verticillium wilt suppression would be quite low. They Mint is a perennial crop. It is grown for its oil, leased some land meeting that criteria west of town on and there are three major types grown in the United a neighboring irrigation project. In the meantime, the States today: peppermint, native spearmint, and Simpsons discovered that they needed new roots, not Scotch spearmint. The Northwest is a major producer ones taken out of old fields. By buying new roots and of all three. putting them into ground with no history of growing mint, production did quite well. Every four years, Washington State Production of Mint for Oil mint is rotated with field Year Crop Harvested Yield Production Average Production corn because of decreased acres (lbs) (lbs) price value production and infestation 2010 Peppermint 16,000 110 1,760,000 $18.80 $33,088,000 of noxious weeds, Spearmint 12,100 143 1,730,000 $16.00 $27,744,000 primarily Canadian thistle 2011 Peppermint 16,500 104 1,716,000 $20.40 $35,006,000 and morning glory. Today, Doug and Spearmint 11,600 155 1,798,000 $18.50 $33,269,000 John presently farm Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Washington Field Office. about 500 to 600 acres of mint. About half of the acreage is in native spearmint, which isn’t susceptible Unfortunately, peppermint is susceptible to to verticillium wilt. Although they are still trying their verticillium wilt. Wilt is a soil-borne disease hand at peppermint, they have increased their acreage facilitated by nematodes or root-bores opening a in native spearmint. wound in a root and enabling the verticillium to enter the plant. By the early 1960s, wilt had moved Propagation and Harvest into Yakima Valley fields, and George Simpson could Most growers plant in the spring, although the no longer grow peppermint. He tried spearmint, but Simpsons have been pleased with the results of that did not do well either. So he got out of the mint planting in the fall. They dig mint roots with a business all together. machine much like a potato digger. Mechanical mint The Simpson family went on to grow other crops, planters, which are basically manure spreaders, run the particularly sugar beets. Sugar-beet production was
D
Field of blossoming mint. 34
Irrigation Leader
roots through a beater to cut them up and drop them down a chute into furrows with 30‑inch centers. The planter then packs soil over the roots. The goal is to have a steady stream of roots placed into the furrows. Peppermint is harvested once and spearmint twice. The first cutting of spearmint is at the end of June or beginning of July. Peppermint harvest is in the middle of August, and then it is time for the second cutting of native spearmint. Mint is swathed similar to alfalfa hay. It is laid out in windrows, and left to dry for one to three days. It is picked up with a Klaus Chopper and blown into a covered tank pulled behind the chopper. On average, the Simpsons produce 110 pounds of single-cropped peppermint and 165 pounds of double-cropped spearmint.
The Klaus Chopper at work.
Distillation The tank is brought into a distillery unit, which introduces steam to the dried mint through tubes on the bottom of the tank. There is a vapor tube on the top that connects to a condenser surrounded by cooling water. The condenser converts the steam back into liquid form. The liquid runs into a separator, where the oil rises to the top. The remaining water is drained off and cooked once more through a stripper unit to take off any extra oil. The oil is then drained into 55‑gallon drums, amounting to a net of 400 pounds of oil per drum. The Simpsons produce about 80,000 to 90,000 pounds of oil per year. The goal is to finish all distilling by Labor Day or shortly thereafter, so they can focus on grape and corn silage harvests. Irrigation A lot of the newer ground growing peppermint today is under pivot irrigation. Growers generally have two cuttings on those circles. Most of the Simpsons’ mint is rill, or furrow, irrigated, but they have been converting to centerpivot systems. These pivot systems are typically designed to irrigate a quarter section of land. With rising labor costs and the need to comply with return-flows standards under the Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District’s water-quality Irrigation Leader
program, the Simpsons are switching from rill irrigation to pivot irrigation, even on fields as small as 40 acres. Mint is a water-intensive crop because it has shallow roots only a few inches deep. It requires light, frequent irrigation applications. Its water use is comparable to corn, requiring around 30 inches of water a year. The Business There is a federal marketing order governing native mint in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The marketing order regulates market volumes and establishes reserve pools. The marketing order governing mint production was put into place prior to the Simpsons’ decision to grow mint again. Large price fluctuations in the mint business drove the decision to initiate the marketing order. The order was put together through a grower initiative to stabilize fluctuating prices. It has worked reasonably well for the growers, processors, and buyers. Farmers can count on a realistic, even price. Because of the marketing order, when the Simpsons got back into growing mint, they had to buy allotments from retiring mint farmers or those looking to get out of the business. Doug Simpson says they are small players in the mint business, which poses unique challenges. Mint requires specialized, expensive equipment that can only be used for mint. Some growers who produce dill use their mint distillery to extract its oil, but the dill market is very limited. The distillery is fuel driven. The mint still is currently operated with diesel, so when the price of diesel goes up, so too does the cost of extraction. There are a few mint stills running on natural gas, but the Simpsons’ still is not close enough to a natural gas line to make that a feasible option. Doug and John are considering retrofitting their boiler to operate with propane fuel. The Simpsons sell oil primarily to the larger oil dealers, Labbemint, I.P. Callison, and A.M. Todd, which in turn have contracts with end users like Colgate and Wrigley’s. Most mint oil is used for toothpaste or gum, and the balance is used for candies and pharmaceuticals. Today, over 100 years since the land was cultivated the first time by Alex Simpson, major changes have taken place. Third-generation Simpsons have been joined by fourth generation: Todd Simpson, Doug’s son. In addition to producing mint, Simpson Brothers Farms grows 2,000 acres of silage corn rotated with semiannually with triticale. Despite all the changes and challenges, Doug and John still cling to their belief that farming is the best job in the world. Doug Simpson is a grower and chairman of the board of the Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District. 35
R E C L A M A T I O N
P R O F I L E:
Regional Director Terry Fulp
Terry Fulp, PhD, has spent the last 24 years at the Bureau of the Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Region and is nearing his 1-year anniversary as the regional director. He is an expert on the Colorado River and has focused his career on river operations and modeling. Terry is a lifelong student; he has a bachelor of science in earth sciences from the University of Tulsa, master of science in geophysics from Stanford University, master of science in civil engineering from Colorado State University, and a doctorate in mathematics and computer sciences from the Colorado School of Mines. Prior to his efforts with Reclamation, he worked in the oil and gas industry for 10 years. Irrigation Leader magazine's Editorin-chief, Kris Polly, spoke with Terry about his work and some of the key issues currently impacting the Colorado River Basin.
Kris Polly: How did you get started with the Bureau of Reclamation? Terry Fulp: I was hired to help modernize the water supply side of the lower Colorado River system. Reclamation resumed control of Hoover Dam operations and maintenance in 1987. During the 50-year repayment period, four utilities ran it. So we inherited a 60-year old power plant that needed major upgrades, including computer control technology. It was around that time that I was brought on board to address some of those issues. Kris Polly: What is the current status of the Colorado River, and what do you expect to happen in the near future? Terry Fulp: The status now is that we are still in the drought that started in the year 2000. Over the first 5 years of the drought, it was shaping up to be pretty 36
severe; in fact, those first 5 years were the worst of the last 100 years. It led us to the development of new coordinated guidelines for how we operate Lake Powell and Lake Mead for an interim period through 2026. It came to a head in 2005 as Lake Powell continued to decline. At the time, there were concerns that we would have to change annual release patterns from the lake to help conserve water. So we undertook a public process and environmental impact statement to develop these guidelines that were finalized at the end of 2007. We’ve had three years of above average inflow since 2000, with 2011 being about 135 percent of average. That is not unusual. You can have sustained drought and still have a few above average-flows. Yet, this is still the worst 14-year period on record. This system is highly variable. That is what led us to develop storage on the river system in the first place. We can store four times the system’s average annual. It allows us to collect and store water during high-flow years and use it for drought or low-flow years. That system has worked well for us to date. As this drought has persisted—the last two years are the worst two consecutive on record—the lakes are declining rapidly again. So last month, we announced that under the 2007 guidelines, we will reduce Lake Powell’s release in 2014 to 7.48 million acre-feet. Since Powell was Irrigation Leader
Rings indicate low water levels around Lake Mead at Hoover Dam.
filled back in the 1960s, we have never released less than 8.23 million acre-feet. Kris Polly: Tell us about the Colorado River Basin Study. What did you learn, and what can we expect? Terry Fulp: The study has provided us with a firm understanding of the issues facing the basin over the next 50 years. It provides a solid technical foundation and common frame of reference to discuss how to address those issues. Let me provide a little background here. Over the last 50 years, Reclamation and the states have commissioned reports and studies that foresaw that the Colorado River Basin was going to have a demand–supply imbalance. This study truly solidifies our understanding of what those imbalances might be in the future, given the information we have today. We are now in the “next steps” process, homing in on further discussions on possible options for what we can or should do. We are evaluating both the supply side— augmentation—as well as the demand side—conservation. This plan won’t be static. We are always receiving new information, and as our understanding increases, the study will continue to be updated. In addition, we will be implementing strategies and solutions along the way. Irrigation Leader
Kris Polly: Reclamation, and you in particular, were instrumental in negotiating Minute 319 in the Colorado River Treaty with Mexico. Will you talk about the significance of those negotiations? Terry Fulp: Let me first say that we had a great team working on Minute 319, led by Commissioner Mike Connor. We worked closely with our colleagues from the International Boundary and Water Commission and the seven Colorado River Basin States. I do think that it is one of the more significant agreements struck over the last 20 years. The agreement represents the logical extension to our neighbors to the south of our cooperative approach to solving Colorado River issues. It is a 5-year pilot project with many components. For example, the United States agreed to provide funding to repair and improve the water delivery infrastructure in Mexico to help increase Mexico’s water conservation and efficiency. Mexico can then defer delivery of the water conserved from those infrastructure improvements, leaving the water in Lake Mead. This means Mexico does not lose the water, and in the meantime, the reservoirs are higher, which helps both countries. That is significant. Currently, Mexico doesn’t have any storage along the river. Once Mexico gets its allocation, it uses it. The lack of storage was a major problem for it when the earthquake 37
in 2010 damaged quite a bit of its infrastructure in the Mexicali Valley. We did a short-term agreement back then to allow Mexico to delay delivery of some of that water, and that cooperation set us up nicely to negotiate the 5-year program. Three of the water districts in the Lower Basin (Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Central Arizona Water Conservation District, and Southern Nevada Water Authority) financially backed part of the overall U.S. investment. This investment will facilitate an exchange for some of the water Mexico conserves through its infrastructure improvements for use by the U.S. entities in the short term, with Mexico getting the benefits of the infrastructure improvements over the long term. The pilot program will test that mechanism. In addition, some of that conserved water will be accounted for as “system” water (meaning it will remain in Lake Mead) and some will be released as a “pulse” flow to help water the lower part of the river below Mexico’s diversion at Morelos Dam. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in both countries are raising money to put additional water in the system below Morelos Dam as a base flow. Kris Polly: The 1944 treaty between the United States and Mexico covers flows in both the Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers. To date, Mexico has not released the amount of water it should be releasing into the Rio Grande. Do you see a scenario in which the United States would withhold releases on the Colorado until Mexico fulfills its release obligations on the Rio Grande? Terry Fulp: Before I answer your question, let me frame it with some background on the treaty. The 1944 treaty did in fact cover both of these river systems. Each system occupies a different section of the treaty. Other than being covered by the same treaty document, there really isn’t a connection between the two river systems with respect to river management and legal obligations. We’ve always looked at the Colorado River Basin as a separate entity and not operationally connected to the Rio Grande. My hope is that the collaborative approach we have worked so hard to develop on the Colorado River will make its way to the Rio Grande; however, I expect that the two systems will continue to be managed independently. Kris Polly: What can you tell us about recent efforts to develop a compromise agreement on the Navajo Generating Station and Reclamation’s views on this compromise? Terry Fulp: In January of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a draft best available retrofit technology (BART) rule for the Navajo Generating 38
Station (NGS) near Page, Arizona. The rule primarily addresses nitrous oxide emissions in order to improve visibility. NGS is important to many people, including Reclamation—we have an entitlement to nearly 25 percent of the station’s output. Reclamation’s involvement with the NGS dates back to the development of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), when we were looking for a solution to power the pumps to lift water from the Colorado River and deliver it hundreds of miles away to Phoenix and Tucson. NGS provides a stable and reliable power supply to ensure CAP water deliveries at a reasonable cost. We also market the excess power and set aside the revenues to help pay back the cost of the CAP project to the government as well as to provide money and water for water rights settlements in the state of Arizona. As a part of the EPA’s public process, Reclamation worked together with a variety of stakeholders—the Salt River Project (the operating entity for the NGS), the Navajo Nation, the Gila River Indian Community, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (the operating entity for the CAP), and some NGOs—to submit an alternative to the EPA’s draft rule. We are trying to make sure NGS is viable through 2044 by agreeing to an overall reduction of carbon dioxide and the development of some clean-energy alternatives in addition to addressing the visibility issues. We think it strikes a good balance between ensuring the viability of the power station and addressing environmental concerns, and we are very hopeful that the EPA will seriously consider this proposal. Kris Polly: How will the proposed agreement affect irrigators? Terry Fulp: Well, it will lead to some increases in the price of water per acre-foot. But we believe that increase will be manageable and much less than it could be without NGS. I need to emphasize that this is not a done deal. We just have an agreement on this alternative proposal we have submitted to the EPA. For us, ensuring the long-term viability of the station and keeping the cost of the power and the resulting cost of the water manageable are the keys. We think we have struck the right balance. Kris Polly: What should irrigators in your region know about Reclamation and its work? Terry Fulp: Irrigated agriculture is a major part of the economic engine of the Southwest, and the bulk of our water deliveries are made to irrigators. My message is that we will continue to work hand-in-hand with irrigators in a collaborative and transparent manner to help meet their needs and solve problems. That is my commitment. Irrigation Leader
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International
Floriculture in Zambia: Scimitar Farming
Aster "paquita" inside the greenhouses.
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cimitar Farming Ltd. is making significant strides in Zambia’s burgeoning floriculture industry. The company, located east of Zambia’s capital of Lusaka near the international airport, is an integral part of an industry that generated US $24 million in export revenues in 2012. While most of Zambia’s fresh-cut flower producers are dedicated to roses, Scimitar grows a variety of flowering plants, including solidago (goldenrod), aster, and gum. Scimitar works 26 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) of irrigated floriculture: 18 hectares dedicated to solidago; 3 hectares of aster; 0.5 hectare of Safari Sunsets—a hybrid leucadendron, a type of protea native to South Africa; and 1.5 hectares of cinerea, a type of gum tree. Scimitar dedicates 5 hectares for greenhouses and is currently setting up another 4.75 hectares of tunnels to shelter products during the winter and rainy
season. Scimitar Operations Manager Brian Royston indicated that the company hopes to expand up to 40 acres in the next three years, placing Scimitar “as one of the top flower-growing farms in Africa.” While there is steady competition from Kenyan and Zimbabwean fresh-cut flower producers, the Zambian subtropical climate is ideal for growing flowers and supporting industry growth. In fact, the farm receives 900 to 1,000 milliliters (more than 60 inches) of rain per year. The company is a major employer in the Lusaka area. Mr. Royston describes Scimitar’s operations as labor intensive. In winter, when production is lower, the company employs approximately 210 people. When production ramps up, that number increases to 260. While Scimitar does use tractors to prep the land, everything from planting onward is done by hand. Even where machines could be used, crews give automation a run for its money. “For packaging, we do have a bunching machine, but we are still learning [how to maximize its use]. One of our packaging managers is keen on proving that he and his team are better than the machines.”
Operations
Propagation greenhouses where Scimitar does all its cuttings. 40
Scimitar plants aster and solidago in July, winter in the southern hemisphere. The time frame between planting and harvesting is 15 weeks. At harvest, crews cut 100 percent of the product right back down to the roots for the start of a second flush. Scimitar targets 4 to 5 flushes during the year—one or under in the greenhouse and three flushes outside. Irrigation Leader
Scimitar packers in the pack house.
Asters and solidago require 12 hours of light per day. Lighting less than 12 hours triggers a signal in the plant to flower. Scimitar keeps lights on the flowers for 4 hours a night from planting until the plant reaches 50 to 60 centimeters in height. At that point, the lights are turned off and the plants flower for about three weeks before harvest. At harvest, crews place the cut product into buckets of water in the field. From there, the product is brought into the packhouse, where a precooler removes the field heat out of the product at 8 degrees Celsius for two to three hours. Then it is on to the bunching table, where crews strip off the leaves, size the stems, and bunch them at specific weights. After that, bunches are placed back into water in a cold room at 1.5 to 4 degrees Celsius for about six hours. Then crews place bunches into boxes, which are cooled again. Scimitar’s products have to be delivered to the airport at a temperature under 7 degrees Celsius to ensure that the flowers do not wilt, and even compost, in transit. The entire process ensures that the flowers travel from farm to European markets within two days’ time. When production is at its maximum, Scimitar exports every day.
Water & Power Scimitar runs a drip irrigation and fertigation system at 30‑centimeter spacing and 1.1‑liter‑per‑hour drippers. The company employs an overhead sprinkler system for crop establishment, generally the first five days after planting. Once the roots are established, the farm switches to drip and fertigates until harvest. At that point, the farm cuts the water and fertilizer to stress the crop to maximize flowering. The farm has three boreholes that pump from a healthy aquifer into three separate reservoirs, each storing approximately 2.5 acre-feet. From the reservoirs, the water is pumped through sand filters to either the overhead misting system or the fertigation system. For fertigation, the farm uses Venturi injectors. So as the water flows, it Irrigation Leader
sucks up the fertilizers. Operations are energy intensive: the cold rooms, the water pumps, and lights for 30 to 40 weeks a year. The supply of electricity is erratic at best, but Zambian utilities do provide loss-of-power timetables and stick to them. Scimitar keeps a 150 KVA backup generator on stand-by. Scimitar runs 10 hectares on high-pressure sodium lights, 30 lights per hectare, and another 9 hectares under fluorescent tube lights. The company has reached out to businesses in the Netherlands about helping it to switch over to LED lights. According to Mr. Royston, “If that project goes through, we can cut our electricity bill by 60 percent; it is just a matter of the capital investment.”
Indices for Best Practices In response to increased European consumer awareness of environmental and social responsibilities in floricultural practices, the Zambian floricultural industry has focused on best production practices. With regard to energy consumption and labor treatment, Scimitar is certified with MPS (Milieu Programma Sierteelt) Netherlands, an international accredited environmental standard. MPSABC is an environmental qualifications system awarded to MPS participants based on scoring according to use of crop protection agents, fertilizers, energy, and waste. MPS-A indicates that the most environmentally friendly cultivation practices are used. Scimitar is rated MPS-A. Certification grants access to the Dutch markets. According to Mr. Royston, “[MPS] is costly to be involved with because you have to pay subscriptions every year, and there is a lot of work involved to get up to the standard and maintain it. But if you don’t have your certifications, the market would kick you out.” Scimitar is also certified MPS-GAP (good agricultural practices). Both MPS certifications monitor the health and safety of the farm workers. However, in response to those market pressures, the company is currently looking into certifications addressing the social well being of its farm workers. For more information on floriculture in Zambia or on Scimitar, please contact Brian Royston at brian.royston@scimitarfarming.com.
Spray team in action, spraying pest control. 41
The Innovators
AgSense: Irrigating With Your Smartphone
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gSense is dedicated to using technology to improve farm operations. Its Field Commander is an advanced GPS-driven pivot monitor and control system that communicates via a cell network to provide near-real-time information and alarms to a cell phone, a smartphone, or a computer. Like so many ag solutions, the Field Commander is a product born of necessity. Two brothers started AgSense in the cornfields near Huron, South Dakota. They were looking for a smarter way to manage their fields and fashioned the first few monitoring and control devices for their farm. From there, AgSense was established. The company’s technology is deployed on thousands of units in more than 40 states, including its Field Commander devices on center pivots in eastern Colorado, and in 13 countries. This year, the company celebrates its 10‑year anniversary. AgSense’s primary area of expertise is getting data from devices in the field up to the web for remote monitor, control, and management. The two main aspects of company’s business are hardware—the device installed in the field that sends the data to the web—and software—a webpage (wagnet.net) for customer interaction. The hardware, which is about the size of a shoebox, has a modem and a GPS. AgSense engineers design the circuit boards and write all the software. The Field Commander hardware is one size fits all—it works with any brand of pivot and comes loaded with numerous digital control features, enabling pivot feature upgrades without replacing existing control panels. With it, growers can see the status of pivots on screen and monitor and control their functions. A lot of what growers would normally have to do manually in the field can be done remotely with AgSense devices. AgSense built reporting into its software, so its customers can generate customized, historical reports. Customized reports are especially helpful in areas where water is rationed. The software can show how much water is applied in a certain spot in a field, or how much went through a flow meter. Additional AgSense devices are available for the grower to monitor factors such as soil moisture, system pressure, and weather.
The leading benefits of Field Commander are time and fuel savings. Growers can check their devices and monitor their system remotely by logging into a web page or checking their smartphone rather than physically visiting each pivot. The Field Commander system will also text message the grower. If there is a problem, such as a stuck pivot or a loss of power, the system will automatically generate a text to alert the customer. Growers can customize notifications with commands such as start, stop, power on, power off, pressure range, and flow range. Growers can also be alerted via text when a pivot reaches a certain angle. According to Steve Sveum, vice president of sales and marketing at AgSense, “If it is 1:00 a.m. and your pivot gets stuck, you will get a message and know what’s going on. So you can stop your pivot with your smartphone or computer and deal with the problem in the morning without the pivot pumping all night in one spot. Our customers tell us that these devices quickly pay for themselves.” For AgSense, water conservation is paramount—it is important to its customers, its partners, and even people off the farm. As Mr. Sveum emphasized, “It is important that everyone understands that our customers are irrigating responsibly and making good use of our water.” To assist with responsible irrigation, the Field Commander programs a pivot with the ability to change speed up to 20 times in one circle. Changing the pivot speed changes the water application rate. All of that work is done online, wirelessly and remotely. “We’re putting more water where you need it, and less water where you don’t.” AgSense works with several agronomy software partners that generate these irrigation prescriptions, which are then remotely uploaded into the Field Commander on the pivot. For more information, see the AgSense website at www.agsense.net or contact Steve Sveum at (605) 352-8350, ex. 217.
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The Innovators 44
Pivotal Advantage: Maximizing Yields on Corner Systems By Maury Balcom
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ariability in fertilizer application has plagued corner systems since they first hit the market. Without a way to adjust fertilizer pumps to reach a swing span as water flow increases, growers often forgo corners and end up farming just the circle. Seven years ago, the team behind Pivotal Advantage tackled the problem head on and found an effective away to regulate the rate of fertilizer to fully utilize corner systems and increase yields in corner plots. Pivotal Advantage is a corner-system chemigation control module for a fertilizer pump that senses changes in the water pump and adjusts fertilizer accordingly. Each module is a one-sizefits-all solution for any type of system. It is simple to set up—just plug the module into the place where the fertilizer pump normally would be. The module is adaptable to wireless systems for remote monitoring. My partner is an electrician with a background in agriculture. His staff builds the units. We have been on the market for about six years,. The first year or so, we were working on prototypes. We came up with the present version about three years ago, and it is exactly what we needed. We sell solely by word of mouth and are doing really well. Electrician Snap Keene designed the module. He and business partners Chuck Graaf and I hand-build the modules in George, Washington. Although the product has been on the market for six years, the Pivotal Advantage team has refined the module during that time. The team has improved the module’s component housing to ensure that it is both weather tight and secure. The module is adaptable to a variety of telecommunications upgrades depending on customer needs. Pivotal Advantage is on to something based on the response of our customers. A lot of our buyers will start off with one or two units and move them from circle to circle. After seeing how simple and valuable a single unit is, they often come back the
following year and buy units for each one of their circles. The company started out serving growers in central Washington State. While Pivotal Advantage continues to sell directly to growers, it now works with dealers in Nebraska and Idaho as well. Pivotal Advantage products are sold in Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Oregon. We will be at the Potato Expo 2014 in San Antonio this January. For more information on Pivotal Advantage, contact Maury Balcom at (509) 948-9753.
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Intern Profile: Ashlee Giesman
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his summer, Water Strategies, LLC, and Irrigation Leader magazine gained an invaluable asset in Ashlee Giesman. A rising senior at the University of Montana, Ashlee showed a great deal of independence, professionalism, and positivity as our summer intern. She made important contributions to Irrigation Leader and helped make this year’s Summer Workshop possible. Ashlee grew up in Lacey, Washington, outside of Olympia. In fact, many of our Washington State readers know Ashlee’s mom, Anna, who is an integral part of the Washington State Water Resources Association. An accomplished cross-country runner in high school, Ashlee earned a scholarship to Spokane Community College. In her second year, the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges awarded Ashlee an Academic Leadership Award for earning a 3.74 grade point average while participating in crosscountry. After successfully completing community college, Ashlee moved on to the University of Montana in Missoula in fall 2012. She has developed a keen interest in the relationship between communities and the environment and is majoring in environmental studies. She will graduate in spring 2014. As part of the Water Strategies team, Ashlee was instrumental in editing and updating our mailing lists. She also played a vital role with Irrigation Leader workshops. She tracked down the contact information and art for the 2013 Operations Workshop Manual and helped set up and facilitate the Summer Workshop in Denver. Ashlee also attended meetings with the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition. Ashlee noted that “it was interesting to see environmental issues from multiple perspectives.” She also spent time on Capitol Hill, attending hearings and congressional office meetings on behalf of clients. Ashlee enjoyed her time in Washington, DC. One of the highlights of her stay was being on the National Mall for the Fourth of July festivities and fireworks. With graduation nearing at the end of this school year, Ashlee is looking ahead. “I love Missoula—it is a great community with a strong environmental focus— but the job market there is not that great.” Her DC 46
experience, however, has given her some ideas about a path forward. “I didn’t seriously think about graduate school until I worked independently in DC,” Ashlee said. With that in mind, she intends to apply for Americorps’s Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) program through the University of Oregon in Eugene. The 11‑month program places volunteers in rural Oregon communities to engage in planning, economic-development, natural resources, or food-security projects. Upon completion, RARE makes a financial contribution toward the participant’s graduate school tuition, confers graduate school credits to the participant, and ensures that participants are eligible for in-state tuition at the University of Oregon. We at Water Strategies and Irrigation Leader would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to Ashlee. Anyone interested in hiring a talented and hard-working spring 2014 graduate can reach Ashlee at ashlee.giesman@waterstrategies.com. Irrigation Leader
CLASSIFIED LISTINGS Belle Fourche Irrigation District Project Manager Belle Fourche Irrigation District near the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota is accepting applications for a Project Manager. The Project Manager (PM) administers and implements the policies and programs adopted by the Board of Directors. The PM manages the activities of all Project employees, evaluates operational procedures, and coordinates all planning and development programs, including preparing grant applications. The PM develops specific program goals, policies, procedures and objectives. The PM keeps the Board apprised of the operations and needs of the Project, presents an annual budget to the Board, and prepares other reports as requested by the Board. The PM directs the distribution of the Project irrigation water supply to Project patrons. PM must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be capable of sustaining productive working relationships with the Board of Directors, employees, water users and all other entities of the District.
Steven L. Hernandez attorney at law Specializing in
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Contracts and Western Water Law 21OO North Main Street Suite 1A P.O. Box 13108 Las Cruces, NM 88013
(575) 526-2101 Fax (575) 526-2506 Email:
slh@lclaw-nm.com
College degree not required but would be desirable. Management experience not necessary but would be looked at favorable. General agricultural knowledge is required. Benefits include medical, paid holidays, South Dakota Retirement, sick leave and vacation. Please send resume to: Belle Fourche Irrigation District; Attn: Darron, Board Chairman, P.O. Box 225, Newell, SD 57760.
For information on posting to the Classified Listings, please e-mail Irrigation.Leader@ waterstrategies.com Irrigation Leader
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2013 CALENDAR
September 12 September 12–13 September 23–24 October 2–4 October 22–23 Oct. 22–24 October 23–25 November 4–8 November 5–7 November 7 November 13–15 November 13–15 November 21–22
Assn. of California Water Agencies, Energy and Water Nexus Summit, San Francisco, CA Northwest Hydroelectric Assn., Small Hydro Workshop, Bend, OR Nebraska Association of Resources Districts 2013 Annual Conference, Younes Conference Center, Kearney, Nebraska Western States Water Council, Fall Council Meeting, Deadwood, SD TruePoint Solutions User Group Meeting, The Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, Nevada Joint Wyoming Water Association and Upper Missouri Water Association Annual Meeting and Educational Seminar, Holiday Inn, Sheridan, Wyoming Texas Water Conservation Assn., Fall Conference, San Antonio, TX Irrigation Assn., Irrigation Show and Education Conference, Austin, TX Nevada Water Resources Assn. River Symposium and Tour, Reno, NV Columbia Basin Development League, Annual Conference, Moses Lake, WA National Water Resources Assn., Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX ESRI, Southwest User Conference, Salt Lake City, UT Idaho Water Users Assn., Annual Water Law Seminar, Boise, ID
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.
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