Irrigation Leader Washington State March 2021

VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3 WASHINGTON STATE EDITION

Kristin Meira of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association: How Northwest Waterways Work for Irrigated Farmers

march 2021

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CONTENTS MARCH 2021 Volume 12 Issue 3

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

an American company established in 2009.

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator Cassandra Leonard, Staff Assistant

8

Kristin Meira of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association: How Northwest Waterways Work for Irrigated Farmers

5 T he Importance of River Transport for Washington Ag Products

By Kris Polly 8 K ristin Meira of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association: How Northwest Waterways Work for Irrigated Farmers 14 H ow Elephant Butte Irrigation District is Preparing for a “Dry, Dry, Dry” Year

20 How

the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District is Conserving Water and Meeting Compact Deliveries Amid Drought 30 W ater Conservation at Cameron County Irrigation District #2 36 R estoring Aquifers and Dealing With Drought at the San Luis Valley Irrigation District.

42 P roducts, Expertise, and Service: The SePRO Formula

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.

For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or irrigation.leader@waterstrategies.com.

ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors.

For address corrections or additions, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright © 2020 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on 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. /IrrigationLeader

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COVER PHOTO:

Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

4 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Kristin Meira, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association.

Photo courtesy of PNWA.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF PNWA.

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The Importance of River Transport for Washington Ag Products

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arge traffic on the Columbia and Snake Rivers is a major route by which Washington State’s irrigated crops are shipped to the coast and around the world, and the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) is the trade association that brings together ports, businesses, public agencies, and individuals to support that traffic. In this month’s cover story, PNWA Executive Director Kristin Meira tells Irrigation Leader about the association’s work and its importance for irrigated ag farmers.

This month, we also focus on the effects of two decades of drought on irrigators in the Rio Grande basin and the impressive efforts that irrigation district managers are carrying out to respond. According to General Manager Gary Esslinger, the 18-year drought that Elephant Butte Irrigation District is undergoing is now approaching the severity of the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s. The district, headquartered in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is fighting back with initiatives including conservation, piping, metering, and on-farm efficiencies.

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is trying to balance fluctuating water supplies derived from snowpack and runoff with heavy delivery requirements dictated by the Rio Grande Compact and federal regulations. MRGCD CEO and Chief Engineer Mike Hamman tells us how the district is dealing with shortage and increasing efficiency.

Rio Grande water is also diverted for agricultural purposes at the very end of its course, near the Gulf of

By Kris Polly

Mexico. Sonia Lambert, the manager of Cameron County Irrigation District #2, tells us about how her district is dealing with water shortages through infrastructure upgrades and conservation initiatives, both in the district’s system and on water users’ farms.

Robert Phillips, superintendent of the San Luis Valley Irrigation District in southern Colorado, tells us that his district’s diversions have decreased by a quarter since 2001.

When the drought started, farmers in the valley quickly drained all its aquifers, but soon recognized the importance of conservation and reduced groundwater consumption, leading to the aquifers’ recovery.

We also hear in this issue from Sam Barrick of SePRO, who tells us about his company’s chemical products for the irrigation market.

Across this nation, from Puget Sound to the Gulf of Mexico, irrigated agriculture is a crucial part of our economy, and thanks to the efforts of irrigation water managers and professionals, it will stay that way in both fat years and lean years, years of plenty and years of drought. IL Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the 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.

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March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Kristin Meira of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association: How Northwest Waterways Work for Irrigated Farmers

Ships and barges at the Port of Vancouver, Washington.

T

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background.

8 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Kristin Meira: I grew up in farm country, but far away from the Northwest. I grew up in South Jersey, about 45 minutes east of Philadelphia. The area was actually quite rural. I was a 4‑H girl my whole life—I went all through the program and have nothing but great things to say about it. I had lots of friends who were in Future Farmers of America.

I went to Rutgers University, and during my senior year, I was fortunate enough to have an internship in the governor’s office in Trenton. My first job out of school was working in New Jersey politics for a couple of years. I then moved to Washington, DC, and worked for Senator Bill Bradley during his final 2 years in the Senate before he retired. Then I went to work for Senator Patty Murray of Washington State. That began my love affair with the Pacific Northwest. irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PNWA.

he Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) is a trade association that brings together ports, businesses, public agencies, and individuals to support navigation, energy, trade, and economic development in the Pacific Northwest. One of the industries it helps support is irrigated agriculture in eastern Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Barge traffic on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, for instance, is a major method by which irrigated crops are shipped to the coast and around the world. In this interview, PNWA Executive Director Kristin Meira tells Irrigation Leader about the association’s work and its importance for irrigated ag farmers.

I worked for Senator Murray for 3 years and then moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2000. I’ve been out here ever since, and of the almost 21 years I’ve spent here, I have worked for 19 with PNWA. Irrigation Leader: Tell us about PNWA and its members and mission.

Kristin Meira: PNWA is a trade association that has been around since 1934. It got its start in Walla Walla, Washington. Its original goal was to ensure that navigation locks were part of every dam project that went in on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. That represented an early recognition of how connected we all are and the importance of water transport for marketing our products. In the early 1970s, PNWA expanded and absorbed an existing coastal navigation group. That’s really when we became the association we are today.

Today, more than 145 organizations are members of PNWA, and we just keep growing. We bring together viewpoints from eastern and western Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and beyond. Our members include farmers, ports, terminals, towboat companies, rail lines, pilots, union labor, irrigation interests, and utilities. All those folks have different perspectives about water resources, trade, and transportation, but we find that they are united by their belief in the importance of infrastructure for how we grow and make things in the Northwest and then move them out to market.

Grain and container barges at the Port of Lewiston, Idaho.

Irrigation Leader: How much is transported on the river system?

Kristin Meira: In 2018, the last year for which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published data, more than 56 million tons of cargo moved out on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. It’s an incredibly important export gateway, not just for the Northwest and the West Coast, but for the United States as a whole. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma in Puget Sound are also incredibly important load centers.

We are blessed in the Northwest with ports of different stripes, serving different functions, but all important to our competitiveness.

Kristin Meira testifies before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on February 7, 2019, regarding the state of America's infrastructure.

Irrigation Leader: Would you give us a sense of the number of jobs that the transport network supports?

Kristin Meira: I think our industry needs to improve its methods of calculating direct, indirect, and induced employment numbers. Oregon and Washington are two of the most trade-dependent states in the nation, with over 40,000 jobs dependent upon commerce on the deepdraft lower Columbia River alone. For our region’s overall waterborne transportation system, at the moment, I only have back-of-the-napkin numbers that I wouldn’t want to put out there. I will say that a lot of our members are from irrigationleadermagazine.com

Kristin Meira and members of her association at Grand Coulee Dam.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, located on the Snake River just above the Tri-Cities, Washington.

what I would characterize as the unseen sectors of the U.S. economy—the folks who are growing and making things and then moving those products. The infrastructure that they rely on is also largely unseen, especially water infrastructure. So much of it is underwater. You just don’t think about it in the way that you think about a road that you’re driving on or a bridge, airport, or rail line that you see out your car window.

We have to speak with a coordinated voice, especially in Washington, DC, because otherwise these sectors and this infrastructure will remain unseen and unconsidered.

Irrigation Leader: What are PNWA’s top issues?

10 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Irrigation Leader: What can you tell us about the importance of navigation and transportation on the Snake River?

Kristin Meira: The Snake River is a part of the Northwest that many people will never get to see. Especially in southeastern Washington, the river is essentially in a canyon.

It doesn’t have an interstate adjacent to it, as is the case with I-84 and the Columbia. Perhaps as a result, not a lot of folks know about the important role that it plays for hydropower production and transportation. In any given year, nearly 10 percent of all U.S. wheat exports are transported by barge irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PNWA.

Kristin Meira: These days, we are heavily focused on infrastructure. In so many parts of our country’s infrastructure portfolio, we are coasting on the investments that were made by the generations that came before us.

We’re struggling to maintain the infrastructure we have, let alone to build new things and gain new efficiencies. We want to have serious conversations in Washington, DC, about how to seriously fund infrastructure in our country.

We have a laundry list of projects we want to pursue in the Northwest, including roads, rail, and ports.

Another overarching theme that our membership is thinking about is how to strike the right balance when it

comes to our water resources in the Northwest—how to plan and manage those water resources so that they produce high-value crops while also protecting fish and other species.

Our irrigated ag farmers, for example, are stewards of the land and water. They know the value of every drop of water, and they know that they have some of the highest-quality and most productive lands in the country. But they also know that if they don’t care for it in the right way, it can’t produce all those high-value crops. Our members think of themselves as conservationists and environmentalists. They know the importance of managing all those things, and they also know that the way in which they interact with our rivers can have positive or negative effects on fish runs.

on the Snake River. Barge transport is the most efficient, safest, and least carbon-intensive method of cargo transport.

If you wanted to move the cargo that was shipped by barge on the Snake River in 2018 by rail or road instead, it would have required more than 35,000 rail cars or almost 150,000 semi trucks. Rail and road are critical for moving cargo in the Northwest as well, but they represent more safety risks because there’s more human interaction than in barging.

Barges carrying agricultural products on the Columbia and Snake Rivers range in length from just over 200 to almost 300 feet in length, with a width of 42 feet and depths of up to 16.5 feet. The standard four-barge tow carries over 14,000 tons—as much as 140 train hopper cars or 538 semi trailers.

Snake River dams are critical for hydropower production and barging, and we also know that they are some of the most fish-friendly dams in the entire Pacific Northwest, with over 95 percent of juvenile salmon surviving passage at each one. Those are numbers that are not achieved even in many undammed rivers. A lot of effort has gone into those dams.

They were built with fish passage structures and have never blocked fish, and the Army Corps has been making steady improvements to them since. Today, they have truly worldclass fish passage facilities. They have virtually no effect on survival figures. They are examples of what we hope can be achieved at other dams in the Northwest and beyond.

Irrigation Leader: What should Congress know about your members and your top legislative priorities for this year?

Kristin Meira: Goal number 1 is the right infrastructure policy and adequate funding for infrastructure. We do have a laundry list of projects here in the Northwest, all with a goal of balanced use of water for salmon recovery, transportation, energy, irrigation, and recreation. We know that we share these rivers with our fish, and we want to see that balance achieved. We also want more recognition of the threats to salmon and steelhead across their life cycles. We’re learning more every day from salmon scientists about the challenges these fish face in our oceans. We know that ocean warming, ocean acidification, and urban runoff are common denominators for our struggling West Coast fish runs. We would encourage readers to read about these ocean-based problems for fish on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website.

Irrigation Leader: What are the top priorities for Washington irrigated ag farmers?

Kristin Meira: We know that our farmers can do everything right with their crops, but if our port areas aren’t efficient, they can’t compete in tough overseas markets. With that in mind, we have two high-priority navigation projects that are relevant to irrigated ag farmers. At the coastal ports in Puget Sound, there are important channel-deepening projects at the ports of irrigationleadermagazine.com

Seattle and Tacoma that are ready to proceed. Those are two of the most important container ports in the United States, and we need them to be able to host the largest container vessels in the world to stay competitive. We also need to make sure that the jetties at the mouth of the lower Columbia River are in good shape and can protect the vessels departing with our export cargo. If there is an issue with those jetties and vessels cannot pass, everything we do inland is for naught.

The rest of the supply chain will close down.

A container ship at the Port of Tacoma, Washington.

Irrigation Leader: Have you ever done tours of the river for your members?

Kristin Meira: We do lots of tours, but the pandemic has certainly curtailed that for now. One of the most recent and special tours we did was in summer 2019 with a group of legislators from Olympia. We got on a vessel in Kennewick; went upriver; and locked through Ice Harbor Dam, the first dam to the east on the Snake River. We tied up there, got off the vessel, went into the dam and the powerhouse, and saw where hydropower was being generated. We also talked about access to water. That’s one of the pools that is so important to our Washington irrigated farmers. It was almost a full-day affair, and it was pretty special. There were a lot of Washington State legislators there who had never been to the river, let alone on the river or to a dam or navigation lock. It opened their eyes to the river system and what it means to the people who live in that area. IL Kristin Meira is the executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association. She can be contacted at kristin.meira@pnwa.net.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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How Elephant Butte Irrigation District Is Preparing for a “Dry, Dry, Dry” Year

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lephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID), which services over 6,700 farm members across a service area of 90,640 acres, has stewarded the surface water of New Mexico’s portion of the Rio Grande Project (RGP) for over 100 years. Its water deliveries are complicated by several factors, including delivery obligations under the 1906 Convention Treaty with Mexico, the 1902 authorization of the RGP as a Bureau of Reclamation project, and the formulation of the 1938 Rio Grande Compact Commission—plus a drought that has lasted now for 19 years. In this interview, EBID Treasurer/Manager Gary Esslinger tells Irrigation Leader about how the district is adapting to these institutional demands and trying climatic circumstances.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about EBID. Gary Esslinger: I grew up on a family farm in southern New Mexico, where my grandfather settled and started farming in 1912. In 1978, I began working for EBID. I have held various positions as I have climbed the ladder within the organization, and in 1987, I was appointed to the position of treasurer/manager by the board of directors. I have remained in that position for the last 33 years. Our district has 90,640 acres of irrigable land within the RGP in southcentral New Mexico, and we service over 6,700 farm members with our 300 miles of canals and 600 miles of drains. We have been blessed to serve the farmers of the Rincon and Mesilla Valleys for 100 years now, and over that time we have become an extension of their farming operations and play a role in promoting the agricultural economy of the state, which is known for its famous chiles, pecans, and onions.

Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the history of drought in your district?

14 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

records of droughts from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It is approaching the severity of the droughts from the 1930s, during the Dust Bowl era.

Today, EBID is concentrating on what it needs to address this drought as we prepare for the uncertainty of the future. We are instituting and initiating programs based on our planning needs. New Mexico is developing a 50‑year water plan. In our district, we’ve already met many of the planning goals it lays out; however, we have to be able to do more with less and make changes to address the current needs of the farmers within EBID. Someone once said, “Affairs of the state make for grand design, but in the end the things that matter most happen on the streets where we live.”

Irrigation Leader: Is EBID looking for alternative water sources to help combat this drought?

Gary Esslinger: Right now, we have several alternatives in place, and we are working on issues including watershed management, storm water capture, brackish water development, and groundwater resource management. irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EBID.

Gary Esslinger: As a farm boy growing up during the 1950s and 1960s, I helped my dad as we experienced the worst drought on record in the RGP. I began working for EBID in 1978, when the farmers were dealing with another drought; that year, they were allotted only 8 acre-inches. I was fortunate to be a part of EBID when we were blessed with 23 years of full water supply and every farm was getting 3 acre-feet per acre a year, even 4½–5 acre-feet if they could take it. There was water everywhere—millions more acrefeet than we could store with the infrastructure we had then.

In 1999, I began to see that the Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs were not filling up every year from snowmelt runoff as before, and by 2003, we had hardly any water in storage to deliver to the farms. It has been 18 years, and we are still reeling from this drought. It has broken the

EBID Head Ditch Rider Sergio Salinas examines a remote terminal unit.

Elephant Butte Reservoir.

We’re also doing everything we can to conserve water and to be more efficient with our surface and groundwater, including piping our laterals and automating, metering, and monitoring both surface and groundwater deliveries so that every drop is accounted for. Over time, our farmers have become efficient in how they conjunctively manage surface and groundwater on their lands, which in turn gives them better yields. They use drip irrigation, laser leveling, and other methods to concentrate water in the root zones of their plants. EBID complements their on-farm practices with our state-of-the-art SCADA and software technology.

The combined efforts of EBID and the farmers have helped us all survive the current drought. Farmers have voluntarily begun fallowing farm portions of their land in these times of drought and have used EBID’s water transfer process to move the water to more productive land. Through our land and water records department, we make these transfers happen daily and have been doing so for the last 40 years.

Irrigation Leader: What role do those users play in EBID’s board and governance? irrigationleadermagazine.com

Gary Esslinger: We have a nine-member elected board and 6,500–8,000 members. Over time, those members repaid the United States for the construction of Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs, their dams, their diversion dams, and all the appurtenances. We’re proud of the fact that the handful of pioneer farmers who put their blood, sweat, and tears into the land were the ones who paid this project off.

The public isn’t aware of that, and right now we’re under a lot of pressure from environmentalists, recreationalists, and others who would like to see the water used in the RGP for purposes other than agriculture. The RGP is unique in being a single-purpose Reclamation project built for agricultural purposes only. We’re carrying on a tough battle right now to defend what farmers within the RGP—not the public taxpayers—have paid for over the course of 100 years and to try to explain the institutional foundations that obligate EBID to deliver project water downstream to Texas and Mexico. The EBID board of directors sets the policies that administer the way we do business in order to keep up with a changing climate and hydrology and the calls of competing interests to use the water for uses other than agriculture.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Irrigation Leader: Is EBID allotted a set amount of water every year through the Rio Grande Compact?

Gary Esslinger: It is not the Rio Grande Compact that sets the amount of water allotted for EBID. Let me try to explain the three institutional foundations that are set in stone and that determine the allotment. First and foremost, the RGP was built to settle a treaty obligation with Mexico.

People don’t realize that over 100 years ago, the United States was diverting Mexico’s fair share of the surface water in the Rio Grande upstream in Colorado and New Mexico and that this caused an international incident. The 1906 convention treaty settled the dispute with Mexico and guaranteed a 60,000 acre-foot delivery to the headgates of the Mexican canal near Juarez, Mexico, in perpetuity with safeguards for times of drought. There are similar treaties with Mexico that govern deliveries on the Colorado River and the Rio Conches as well; all have delivery obligations and safeguards for times of drought.

One of EBID’s metered wells.

16 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Irrigation Leader: Is your district in competition with towns and cities that are growing for water resources?

Gary Esslinger: Yes and no. EBID delivers surface water for agricultural purposes only, and there are no municipal surface water treatment plants in our area to which irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EBID.

Second, after the United States Reclamation Service (now the Bureau of Reclamation) decided to build the RGP, it finally worked out plans to build storage facilities in New Mexico, 110 river-miles north of the border with Mexico, to guarantee its ability to deliver surface water to EBID; the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 (EPCWID#1), a Texas irrigation district; and Mexico.

The United States would then apply Reclamation law in developing rules that would set the allocation of water in storage to be released and delivered to the downstream users. To answer your question, it is the RGP, not the Rio Grande Compact, that determines the allocation, and it is the two irrigation districts in the United States and Mexico that determine the allotment that can be delivered based on irrigated acres for any given year.

Third, even after the RGP was completed in 1916, there was still conflict among the three states through which the

Rio Grande runs—Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas—about how to account for the water entering and leaving each state and about how the surface water was to be divided. In 1938, the federal Rio Grande Compact was authorized by the three states. What complicates the compact is the delivery points at the state lines of each state. The most incongruous fact is that Elephant Butte Reservoir is the state line delivery point for Texas, even though the facility sits in geographic New Mexico. The most obvious reason for this is that Elephant Butte Dam is the only mainstem dam in this part of the Rio Grande and has the obligation to deliver surface water to the downstream users and Mexico.

It’s a constant battle to educate politicians, the public, and other agencies in our state about this history. I’ve gone through nine state engineers during my time here, and not all of them understand the unique setting of EBID within the state of New Mexico and the complexity of the other institutional frameworks involved. It is no surprise to me that we are back in the U.S. Supreme Court again over water matters. The federal agencies have changed over time as well, and new agencies have come in. One of the agencies that came in during the 1930s was the International Boundary and Water Commission. You would think that agency would have authority and jurisdiction over the entire international border between the United States and Mexico, from Tijuana to Brownsville, but the boundaries of its authority take a 60‑kilometer dogleg up into New Mexico to the Caballo Reservoir so that the RGP can ensure that the river delivers the proper amount of water to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

People think we should have water in the river all year round for natural and recreational purposes. The fact of the matter is that the Rio Grande dries up in the winter because the two irrigation districts and Mexico do not call for their water at that point. That is because it is harvest time and there is no reason to release water from the reservoir.

Remember, the RGP was built for a single purpose: agricultural irrigation. When people drive along the Rio Grande, they see that in Colorado and northern New Mexico, the waters are pristine and clear. In the middle Rio Grande, they see the bosques and acequias and the way that the Pueblo tribes use their water. When they come down to the valleys below the reservoirs, the river is dry all winter, and even longer than that now, since this drought is making our irrigation season shorter. The Rio Grande doesn’t get wet again until you get to Del Rio, Texas. You can imagine the confusion and negative publicity it brings when people come into our area looking for the mighty Rio Grande and instead set their eyes on a bed of dry sand.

we would deliver surface water for potable treatment.

Unfortunately, due to the drought, there is no guarantee of a certain amount of surface water coming through our system to recharge our aquifer, and we are all depending more on groundwater supplies. This in its self plays right into the hands of competing uses and how we manage our groundwater resource in our area. In El Paso, 40 miles south of us, 50 percent of the river water that goes to the EPWCID#1 is used by the City of El Paso for its drinking supply. The El Paso utilities have three surface water treatment plants. The City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, may consider a surface water treatment plant in the future; that is something that was discussed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when there was plenty of water in storage.

We worked hand-in-hand with the city to look at that possibility, but then the drought set in.

Irrigation Leader: Why does El Paso have more surface water treatment plants than your area?

Gary Esslinger: El Paso serves a population of about 900,000 people living in West Texas. El Paso had been planning since the early 1980s to acquire more water, and when it attempted to pump groundwater from New Mexico, it caused an ugly lawsuit. Those attempts were aggressive and were opposed by the State of New Mexico, EBID, and other New Mexico interests. After losing those fights, the El Paso utilities began to work closely with the EPWCID#1, its irrigation district, and began developing plans to build more surface water treatment plants and to acquire more water from its own farming constituents.

Since that happened, El Paso has acquired more and more formerly irrigated farmland and has converted that water to urban use. It has also developed brackish water supplies in El Paso and bought water farms 200 miles away, with plans to eventually pipe that water into El Paso. The City of El Paso has been doing aggressive water planning for the last 30 years, and it’s paying off. The city is acquiring and using different sources of water. In New Mexico, we have different laws and constraints that make it more difficult to do those things. That’s one reason that you see more water sources being used in El Paso than you see here, just 40 miles up the road.

Irrigation Leader: Is it more difficult for farmers to sell their water rights to cities in New Mexico?

Gary Esslinger: That can happen, but it is rare, because farming is still economically viable in this region. Every drop of water EBID uses goes to productive agriculture.

Irrigation Leader: What are the expected conditions for 2021?

Gary Esslinger: I have three words for what 2021 will be: dry, dry, dry. I’ve seen history repeat itself, and I’ve been here irrigationleadermagazine.com

long enough to know that this drought is to be expected when you look at the hydrograph in this region over time.

I am concerned that the hydrology in our watersheds is changing. Warmer winters, later snowpack runoff, and the fluctuation of our monsoon season make it harder to plan and predict.

We may have less than 6 inches of water for our farmers this coming irrigation season. We are getting a little bit of snow from the La Niña events, and we hope to get more snow in March and April when it usually comes to our part of the country.

Elephant Butte Reservoir holds over 2 million acre-feet of water; today, it’s 13 percent full. Caballo Reservoir holds over 200,000 acre-feet before it goes into flood storage, and it is 7 percent full. Those are the two storage reservoirs in southern New Mexico. Combined, they have only 166,000 acre-feet. We hope that by the time we start our irrigation season, we’ll have over 200,000 acre-feet, since some water will be sent down from the northern reservoirs that have to empty under compact rules. Normally, we can deliver water to our farmers in February and March, but this year, I don’t believe that we will send water to our farmers until about June 1. For now, they will have to rely on groundwater and use what little bit of surface water we can give them. They’ll probably have to use groundwater again at the end of the season. That is expensive for the farmers.

Conditions are changing every day, and as a manager, I work with my staff and employees to address those changes and deliver as much surface water as possible, whether it’s 6 inches or 3 feet. Even if the farmers must use groundwater, they still use our canal system to move the water around.

My management goal is to be ready for whatever changes come our way. Now that we’ve been in drought for 19 years, we’ve got a pretty good management scheme under which we operate. If we get an abundance of water this year in a late snowpack event, we will adjust to a more robust system for managing the surface water. I still have an obligation to send water to Texas and Mexico, so I need to take that into account as well.

Irrigation Leader: It seems that your long experience and knowledge of history has informed your outlook.

Gary Esslinger: You must be patient, and I wait upon the Lord. You cannot afford to panic at the circumstances that surround you. I look above to the good Lord because He is in total control; it’s out of my hands. IL Gary Esslinger is the treasurer/manager of Elephant Butte Irrigation District in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He can be contacted at (575) 993‑2379.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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How the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District Is Conserving Water and Meeting Compact Deliveries Amid Drought

T

he Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, offers irrigation, drainage, flood control, and responsible water conservation services to irrigators and farmers in the middle agricultural region of the state. In this interview, MRGCD CEO and Chief Engineer Mike Hamman speaks with Irrigation Leader about the district’s history, the drought conditions confronting it today, and the steps it is taking to continue successfully fulfilling its mission.

Irrigation Leader: Tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

El Vado Dam and Reservoir. Today, the reservoir is only 5 percent full.

The Isleta Diversion Dam.

20 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the MRGCD. irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MRGCD.

A measuring weir in the Arenal Canal.

Mike Hamman: I have been in the water resources management for more than 36 years. Prior to graduating from the civil engineering program at the University of New Mexico, I was an intern with the City of Albuquerque, working on water supply and water resource issues. After college, I started working with the Bureau of Reclamation in Utah. My work there focused on the Central Utah Project as well as various smaller facilities and canals, and in some cases, resource management areas with dam construction.

I was in a rotation program that allowed employees to experience all aspects of the agency’s work.

Eventually, I ended up on a 9‑month construction project in Wyoming at Fontenelle and Big Sandy Dams.

Through that, I got good, foundational experience in large water resource projects. I also worked in southern New Mexico on the Bradley Dam Project, and then moved into water resources management, doing operations and maintenance for 11 Reclamation projects in the Rio Grande basin, from southern Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas. My area of expertise evolved into water accounting, water operations, and water management requiring multiagency coordination.

I took an early-out departure offer from federal service during the Clinton administration and went to work for the City of Santa Fe and later the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

This turned out to be great experience and helped me see things from perspectives other than federal optics.

Thereafter, I rejoined Reclamation, focusing on tribal water issues and municipal water management issues. I was the manager of the Albuquerque Area Office for 6 years. At that point, I retired from federal service and joined the MRGCD as its CEO and chief engineer. That is where I’ve been for the past 6 years.

Mike Hamman: In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was tremendous water development in the upper Rio Grande basin in Colorado that affected water availability in communities in New Mexico and West Texas.

Simultaneously, the region experienced a series of large flooding events. These circumstances proved overwhelming for the 78 separate ditch companies operating in this region.

In response, the State of New Mexico enacted the legislation that formed the MRGCD in 1922.

The new district took on several issues, including flood control, drainage concerns, and irrigation distribution systems. In the course of doing so, it took all existing waterrelated systems and combined them into four separate diversion dams. It combined the drainage and diversion systems in an effort to reclaim land that had gone out of production. The original target of reclaiming around 124,000 acres was never achieved. The maximum reclaimed acreage was in the 95,000‑acre range in the 1960s, and urbanization and other factors that have occurred since then has reduced irrigated lands to about 60,000 acres in our service area today. We also manage the Rio Grande bosque lands, which comprise about 30,000 acres of land between the levees along the river channel.

Irrigation Leader: Where does your water comes from, and what kind of storage and delivery infrastructure do you have?

Mike Hamman: As the district developed, it built a reservoir on the Rio Chama, which is a major tributary of the Rio Grande, just south of the Colorado border near the town of Chama, New Mexico. It is the only storage reservoir of native storage water rights that the district owns. It’s 150 miles north of Albuquerque and is a supplemental supply providing critical releases for late-season irrigation needs and baseflows for environmental purposes. We primarily survive on the run of the river out of the main stem of the Rio Grande. The district has a 20,900-acre-foot Reclamation contract out of the San Juan–Chama Project that has provided additional water security to the region. Because our main source of water is the runoff and base flows of the main stem, we are subject to swings in snowmelt and runoff availability.

Typically, we have full use of El Vado Reservoir, but El Vado was constructed after the Rio Grande Compact was enacted, so our ability to store water in and release water from it is governed by the compact, meaning that storage can be limited or completely restricted under specific conditions.

Irrigation Leader: How is your water supply being affected by drought, changes in snowpack and river flow, and other climatic issues?

Mike Hamman: The cycle of the last 3 years is an example of what we’ve historically dealt with. In the 1950s and 1960s, the basin experienced some difficult drought cycles. During that period, there was no San Juan–Chama water available to the irrigationleadermagazine.com

district, as that project was not put into production until the 1970s. The Rio Grande Compact had already been ratified by the states and the U.S. Congress and implemented in 1938.

The compact protects lower basin water users, primarily those who rely on Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir. There are schedules of water that must be delivered by Colorado to New Mexico and by New Mexico to Texas (technically, to the lower Rio Grande below Elephant Butte).

There’s a Reclamation project that governs where that water must be delivered to water users below Elephant Butte Dam, including a treaty with Mexico. New Mexico has a schedule based on native flows coming into the middle of the Rio Grande. A certain percentage has to be delivered to Elephant Butte. In some cases, like in a high-water-year period, after you pass an index amount of about a million acre-feet, 100 percent of the additional water must be delivered on to Elephant Butte in a natural river system that consumes a significant amount in late summer.

In 2018, there was a historically low runoff, but the district retained carryover storage from the previous year and was not restricted at all by the compact, so there was free use of the reservoir at the beginning of 2018. We also had 2 years’ worth of contract supply out of the San Juan–Chama Project that we had been able to bank the previous year. With this available storage, a full irrigation season was provided, although the season ended with minimal carryover storage.

In 2019, there was a big runoff—150 percent of the average—but an equally large compact delivery requirement.

Typically, if we do not also receive monsoon rain, fulfilling a compact delivery through the 150 miles of river that go through the Middle Valley is extremely difficult. This is because infiltration and evapotranspiration on the river causes half or more of the valley depletions, leaving less than half available for agriculture. All combined, the depletions allowed for under the compact and factored into the delivery tables amount to around 400,000 acre-feet a year. The district released all its carryover storage in December to try to meet compact deliveries, but still came up short by about 38,000 acre-feet.

In 2020, we had decent snowpack at the start of the season, so we expected normal runoff, but runoff tanked from April onward because we received little precipitation and were experiencing higher temperatures. The watershed was in bad shape, as there were no precipitation events to keep up soil moisture during the previous fall and summer. If you start the season with poor soil moisture and a thirsty watershed, quite a bit of runoff is required to address the watershed deficit before you have water that is available to store and divert.

In 2020, we did have storable water, but because of compact rules, the 2019 debit water had to be stored and retained first, and the U.S. Department of the Interior stores water to protect the Pueblos’ water rights. That left only a small bit available for general irrigation use, as the runoff was tanking and we were only able to store about 14,000 acre-feet. By mid-July, all available storage for general use was exhausted.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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It was a pretty tough situation for our farmers. We went to the Rio Grande Compact commissioner for New Mexico and made a request under article VI of the compact, which allows a state to request the use of debit storage water. The compact commissioner took the request forward, and all three states approved the use of the stored water for debit purposes for use both by irrigators and for important fish habitat. The district strictly managed this volume, and our operational constraints caused hardship and shortages in certain parts of the district but averted a total collapse of the system.

Because of the poor seasonal monsoon, we weren’t able to make any headway against the compact debit. In fact, our debit increased to about 96,000 acre-feet. Even though the snowpack is near normal right now, the National Weather Service’s predictions for spring and early summer 2021 are not looking good in terms of temperatures and precipitation.

The Albuquerque Main Canal heading.

Irrigation Leader: When was the Rio Grande Compact signed, and who are the parties to it?

22 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Mike Hamman: The Conservancy Act allows the district to manage available supplies under the concept of shared shortages even though we’re in a prior-appropriationdoctrine state. It recognized that this valley inherited prehistoric Pueblo water use as well as laws in existence under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Conservancy Act also recognizes that this is not an adjudicated basin.

Eighty percent of the crops grown here are alfalfa based, meaning they are more resilient in a shared-shortage situation. Alfalfa crops also make small and one-person farming operations feasible. The larger farms are split up through inheritances, but some farms have gotten larger due to acquisitions and leasing. The average farm is in the 20‑acre range, and there are around 200 farms that are 200 acres in size or larger.

If there are shortages, we share them by lengthening the time between irrigations. Typically, an alfalfa farmer irrigates every 2–3 weeks, but during shortages, that period is extended to 4 weeks or more. The district works to prioritize scheduling to water crops that need more frequent irrigation, but geographic location creates operational logistics in a long and narrow delivery area. Our Drought Contingency Plan has identified the need for several reregulation reservoirs to help smooth out this problem, and we are moving forward with land acquisitions and applying for funding to help build this infrastructure.

The district has created a water bank program that provides for farmers who have sold off their senior water rights to continue to irrigate higher-quality lands when the district has surplus water and have thereby become junior to all other users.

These supplies can be and have been curtailed. Last year was the first year that farms were curtailed in May. Over the past 20 years or so, the water bank has only been curtailed a couple of times, including in 2018 and 2020, and it is anticipated that no water bank lands will receive water in 2021.

Irrigation Leader: Have the agricultural users in your area taken steps to reduce their water use or increase their efficiency in reaction to these drought situations?

Mike Hamman: In 1997, the district passed a water distribution policy that addresses efficiency. The guiding principle is that each farm must be in a condition such that the delivery rate is 1 acre per hour or better. In a normal year, we struggle to push water down to many farmers, particularly those at the far southern end of the district. The larger farmers typically have made improvements, but there’s a block of farmers who are not in a position to reinvest in leveling and making delivery ditch improvements. Those who grow alfalfa on 10–60 acres are receiving only supplemental income from farming and are not anxious to make these investments without some assistance, so we are helping with planning irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MRGCD.

Mike Hamman: The Rio Grande Compact was agreed to in 1926 and ratified in 1938. The parties to the compact are the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The United States appoints a nonvoting chair of the commission.

Colorado’s San Luis Valley encompasses the upper Rio Grande basin, where the headwaters are located. There is a delivery point at the border of Colorado and New Mexico called the Lobatos Gauge. New Mexico’s water use is focused on the Middle Rio Grande, from the Cochiti Dam down to Elephant Butte. For the purposes of the compact, Texas includes southern New Mexico as well as the area from El Paso, Texas, down to Fort Quitman, Texas. By treaty convention, the Republic of Mexico also receives an allocation out of Elephant Butte for its needs.

Irrigation Leader: Have the drought conditions of past years gotten to the point where they have affected your deliveries?

and engineering resources so that they can apply to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) or other programs that address water efficiency problems.

The district is taking a carrot-and-stick approach. We’re providing resources and are encouraging grants, and we will supplement them with our resources. We have loan programs, and we’re making the necessary improvements on our system to assure proper delivery capacity. This generation of farmers hasn’t experienced many shortages.

Conditions will hopefully encourage people to move more rapidly in that direction.

The district is applying for a Resource Conservation Partnership Program grant that will allow us to step in the shoes of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to put EQIP on steroids and address some other resource issues.

There are three refuges that receive water from our system that need attention, and we also need to get farmers more actively involved in making improvements to avoid the risk of getting restricted deliveries.

Irrigation Leader: What effects is urbanization having on your district?

Mike Hamman: We work closely with the larger urban areas.

The City of Albuquerque has formed a regional water utility authority, the Albuquerque–Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA). It has made significant changes, moving from a primarily groundwater pumping supply and making major investments in a surface water diversion and return flow system. Together, the MRGCD and the ABCWUA have two-thirds of the water allocation from the San Juan–Chama project; that is a major source of its surface water supplies.

We are concerned about the loss of streamflow. From the turn of the 20th century to the early 1950s or so, this used to be a gaining reach, and it became a losing reach because of groundwater pumping. Municipalities are junior water users, so the state requires them to offset their effects on the senior users (irrigators and the compact), but they are protected from shortages since, unlike most farmers, they can convert to groundwater.

We’re also concerned about the continued loss of water rights off agricultural land. The prices of water rights are attractive, so urban interests are required to buy and dry farmland to offset the effects of their pumping on the Middle Valley. That puts numerous acres of farmland out of production, and many speculators are actively purchasing lands for water rights and housing developments on prime farm ground. It’s a big concern for the future of the district, but it is difficult to challenge private property rights. We are trying to convince all regional water interests to develop a sustainable water plan in order to preserve the agricultural lifestyle in this area.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else you wanted to touch on that we haven’t discussed yet? irrigationleadermagazine.com

Mike Hamman: We serve six Pueblo communities under federal statutes. Those statutes require a certain service level for the Pueblo agricultural lands, because the Pueblos provided rights of way for waterways and drains to be constructed through their lands. They’re an important constituent, and their lands are not being developed much from an agricultural standpoint. They could be a prominent piece of the puzzle down the road if urbanization consumes a lot more of the nonfederal irrigable lands.

Irrigation Leader: What is your vision for the future of the district, particularly when it comes to addressing the issues of drought on the Rio Grande?

Mike Hamman: We’re participating as a lead agency with Reclamation on the Rio Grande Basin Study, which was authorized several years ago by the Secure Water Act. A lot of the authorities for the federal projects, both of Reclamation and of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are outdated and prohibit needed flexibility in operations.

We have one main stem reservoir, Cochiti Dam, which is right at the top of our area. If we have the ability to regulate irrigation and other water supplies at that location, we could do a lot better with some of our endangered species flow needs, could manage irrigation water more efficiently, and could perhaps handle compact deliveries more efficiently. We have facilities and infrastructure that we need to reevaluate in light of the new hydrographs we are experiencing. There has been quite a change in the way the snow melt runoff is occurring. It’s occurring at higher peaks and over shorter durations because of temperature changes. We want to look at our infrastructure to see if we can make it more reactive so that we can better manage the hydrograph for more storage or efficient transport.

We also have plans to move forward with on-farm efficiency and system efficiency work. We’re seeking federal grants and other resources to make our system more resilient.

Fallowing programs also help us get through years of tighter supply; we can then revert land back to farming when we have more water available.

Those are all programs we’re working on, and it’s going to take the full efforts of the MRGCD, the State of New Mexico, and the federal agencies to make them happen in the time period in which we need them to occur. Climate change seems to be happening faster than the models are predicting, so we have to move forward expeditiously. IL

Mike Hamman is the CEO and chief engineer of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He can be reached at mikeh@mrgcd.us.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Water Conservation at Cameron County Irrigation District #2

C

ameron County Irrigation District #2 (CCID2) covers a vast area of Texas near the mouth of the Rio Grande known for its fertile soils and citrus crops. In this interview, General Manager Sonia Lambert tells Irrigation Leader about the district’s conservation efforts and its efforts to ensure that it is able to continue serving its customers as it has for more than 100 years.

operational boundaries are so similar, the two have worked out of the same facilities for many years. This obviously made it even more logical for one person to assume oversight of both districts.

Irrigation Leader: Tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Sonia Lambert: Yes, all the water for the irrigation district is surface water. It comes from the Rio Grande and the Falcon and Amistad Reservoirs, which are international reservoirs owned and run by both Texas and Mexico.

Sonia Lambert: I am the manager of CCID2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3. The two districts work together through an interlocal agreement for my services. I started working for CCID2 through a temporary position that evolved into a permanent position. I have been employed with the irrigation district for 43 years now and have managed both the irrigation and drainage districts for 21 of those 43 years.

Irrigation Leader: Does all the water for the irrigation district come out of the Rio Grande?

Irrigation Leader: How many customers do the districts have?

Sonia Lambert: The drainage district has more customers than the irrigation district, because as I noted, it also serves several municipalities. The actual number of people that benefit from the drainage district is hard to nail down, because while it includes several municipalities, it does not necessarily include the entirety of each metropolitan region. The irrigation district is more clear cut, however.

Approximately 300 farmers are its customers, and there are a total of about 3,000 landowners within its boundaries.

Irrigation Leader: In addition to drawing from storage infrastructure owned by Texas and Mexico, is there additional storage infrastructure that is owned by the irrigation district itself?

Construction of connection for the conversion of earthen lateral canal F to pipeline.

Sonia Lambert: CCID2 is approximately 55,000 acres in size. Its primary purpose is to serve water to agricultural land. The irrigation district pumps water from the Rio Grande to its northern end, a span of about 35 miles. The drainage district has pretty much the same boundaries as the irrigation district, so it is convenient to run both districts simultaneously. The service area for the drainage district also includes three municipalities. The drainage district was established before the irrigation district, but because their

30 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Irrigation Leader: Tell us about recent droughts and climatic conditions on the Rio Grande and how they have affected your operations and deliveries.

Sonia Lambert: We have been short of water a couple of times in previous years that I recall. Unfortunately, we are expecting a shortage again this year; we are thus in for a tough year.

Farmers are completely dependent on the water provided by the irrigation district, and with shortage comes crop loss. One of two things can happen when we experience a shortage of water. Either we continue until we are irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMERON COUNTY IRRIGATION DISTRICT #2.

Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the history, size, and current services of the two districts you manage?

Sonia Lambert: The district owns three reservoirs and resacas that are used to store water that has already been pumped from the Rio Grande. These are greatly beneficial to the irrigation district when the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Water Master Program offers what is called no-charge water, which is not deducted off the district’s water account balance.

completely out of water, or we divide whatever we have left among the eligible farmers—that is, farmers who show a history of irrigation and who we know will put that water to good use. The latter is the preferred option. This helps keep some water in our system to help with deliveries to the municipalities for a longer period.

Shortages affect both the farming community and the cities. When there’s a shortage, we need to notify the cities, who in turn need to notify their consumers to cut back.

Most of us have water conservation plans already in place.

Those water conservation plans call for certain actions during shortages. We are already in the process of reviewing exactly what our starting point is for 2021 and what steps we will need to take to best manage our water supply so that we can provide as much as we can for as long as we can to as many of our consumers as we can.

Irrigation Leader: How have the irrigation and drainage districts been upgrading their infrastructure to save water?

Sonia Lambert: Fortunately, the leaders of this district had the foresight to begin piping earthen canals to conserve water supply as early as 2000. In that year, legislation was enacted to allow us to construct a pumping plant and an interconnect tying together two main water sources and to pipe open laterals. At this point, all that work has been completed. We have constructed the pumping plant, we have constructed the interconnect, and we have piped about 45 miles of canals. This has dramatically curtailed the losses we would otherwise have experienced from seepage and evaporation. In addition to that legislation, we have had the fortune to acquire grants through the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grant program to pipe additional open laterals. We have also begun installing automated gates, which help us better control the water. Automated gates also typically lose less water than manual gates, of which we still have quite a few.

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of conservation efforts, if any, are being undertaken on farmers’ properties?

Sonia Lambert: Most farmers have historically used open furrows. Today, most have moved to what is referred to as poly pipe, which is really just pipe with evenly spaced holes that can be rolled out to better distribute water in each crop row and thus reduce waste. Some have installed meters and shown interest in the installation of drip or sprinkler systems, which use less water on the crop itself.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have plans for any new infrastructure or storage facilities?

Sonia Lambert: Because our three reservoirs are open, they experience seepage and evaporation. We do not have current plans to construct any new reservoirs for a variety of reasons. irrigationleadermagazine.com

Remember, all our water is based on the water rights that we own through the State of Texas. To turn our pumps on, we need to have enough storage in our account with the State of Texas to order that water and place it in our system and our reservoirs. The account operates like a checking account; you’ve got a certain amount of water on deposit, and every time you order water, it’s deducted from the account. At this point, the issue with the drought is that we have no opportunity to replenish that account. We’re just making withdrawals, no new deposits.

Irrigation Leader: What were the keys to your success in seeking grant money through the WaterSMART program?

Sonia Lambert: From what I understand, Reclamation bases its decisions on how much water and energy you can conserve for the amount of money that is being requested through the grant, and if you are benefitting the environment, that gets you extra points. Those are the areas we have tried to focus on. Reclamation has routinely made the WaterSMART grants available for quite a few years now, and we take every opportunity to apply for them. We have been pretty successful in acquiring one or more grants each year. They have really contributed to our ability to pipe our open laterals and to continue our overall water conservation efforts.

Irrigation Leader: What effects is urbanization is having on your districts?

Sonia Lambert: Urbanization has not occurred as rapidly in Cameron County as in some parts of the state, such as our neighboring county, Hidalgo County. We are still predominantly agricultural, which is one of the reasons why I feel that this area is going to experience more of a water shortage this year than will Hidalgo County.

Irrigation Leader: What is your vision for the future of the districts, particularly when it comes to drought issues?

Sonia Lambert: Success through conservation. We plan to continue our water conservation efforts, which I think are particularly important. It should be an ongoing process throughout the life of the irrigation district. There are always improvements to be made, and we should never stop working on them. Every effort we make to pipe open laterals conserves water that can then be used on a farm or even for urbanization in the future. IL Sonia Lambert is the general manager of Cameron County Irrigation District #2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3, headquartered in San Benito, Texas. She can be reached at ccid2@swbell.net or (956) 399‑2484.

March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Greater Wenatchee Irrigation District

Keeping the Water Flowing in 2021 Phone#: (509) 884-4042 Fax #: (509) 884-8763 Email: Office@gwid.org

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Restoring Aquifers and Dealing With Drought at the San Luis Valley Irrigation District

The Rio Grande Reservoir.

T

he San Luis Valley Irrigation District (SLVID) services 62,000 acres of agricultural land in south-central Colorado with water rights on the Rio Grande that date back as far as 1887. Today, the San Luis Valley and the Rio Grande as a whole have been experiencing a serious drought for close to 20 years. In response, farmers in the valley have collaborated to reduce water use and replenish local aquifers. In this interview, SLVID Superintendent Robert Phillips tells Irrigation Leader about how the district is responding to these challenges on the upper Rio Grande.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

36 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the SLVID. Robert Phillips: The irrigation district was formed on December 10, 1908. It comprises 62,000 acres of farmland in the central and northeastern parts of the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. The SLVID owns the Farmers’ Union Canal, which diverts water off the Rio Grande and provides surface water supplies within the SLVID service area for irrigation and recharge purposes. The canal has direct-flow water rights from the river dating as far back as April 1, 1887, and as recent as June 30, 1893. The district has a total of nine direct-flow water rights in the canal, adding up to a total diversion rate of 800 cubic feet per irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SLVID.

Robert Phillips: My parents began their careers as farmers in the San Luis Valley in the 1950s and eventually moved into the education sector in the nearby schools. I grew up in the town of Center, where the SLVID office is located. I graduated from Center High School; received a bachelor of science in agriculture from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa; and earned a master’s degree in water resources at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I have worked for the Colorado Division of Water Resources in divisions 2 and 3 in the positions of water commissioner and reservoir operations specialist and as a physical science research scientist.

While in division 2, I worked for division engineer Steve Witte and became familiar with the Arkansas River and agricultural producers in that area. In division 3, which encompasses the Rio Grande basin and the San Luis Valley, I worked for division engineers Steve Vandiver and Craig Cotten as the water commissioner and as a physical science research scientist.

I then moved on to be a program manager at the Rio Grande Water Conservation District (RGWCD) and managed the first groundwater management subdistrict in the San Luis Valley for 6 years. In 2018, I was offered the superintendent’s position at the SLVID and have been here ever since.

second when all the water rights are in priority.

The SLVID also owns Rio Grande Reservoir, which is located at the head of the Rio Grande. It is the only instream reservoir on the Rio Grande in Colorado. The construction of that reservoir began in 1910 and ended in 1914. Its original capacity was approximately 46,000 acrefeet. The original outlet works in the reservoir, consisting of a series of five slide gates, were also completed in 1914.

The top of the dam crest was lifted in 1972, 1979, and 1982, with the total dam height finally reaching 111 feet.

Currently, the reservoir has a total capacity of 54,000 acrefeet. The SLVID owns two storage water rights for the reservoir. The first one dates back to June 1, 1903, with a priority number on the Rio Grande of 1916‑63A for a total of 45,833 acre-feet. The second storage right is dated June 3, 1903, and has a priority number on the Rio Grande of 1934‑2, for 5,200 acre-feet.

The irrigation district still services 62,000 acres of agricultural lands within its service area boundary with surface water supplies from the Rio Grande. The SLVID owns and operates 135 miles of laterals within the service area and serves approximately 180 farms. Our financial resources are generated by annual assessments based on a per-acre land-water assessment. We are governed by a fivemember board of directors, have four full-time employees, and are open for business year-round. We manage the SLVID ourselves and have our own heavy equipment to maintain our rights of way.

Irrigation Leader: Is your primary source of water the Rio Grande?

Robert Phillips: That’s correct. The SLVID has both direct-flow and storage water rights on the Rio Grande.

We can divert water from the river as the direct-flow water rights owned by the SLVID come into priority. The SLVID also has water storage decrees for the reservoir, which can come into priority during the early summer runoff of the river and during the winter months of the nonirrigation season. The Colorado State Engineer has designated the period from April 1 through October 31 of each year as the irrigation season in division 3, which encompasses the Rio Grande basin. The nonirrigation season, November 1 through March 31, is usually the time when the precompact reservoirs in division 3 can store water.

Precompact reservoirs are reservoirs that were constructed before the 1938 Rio Grande Compact came into force. The nonirrigation season is the primary time of the year for the district to take advantage of its decreed storage water rights.

Irrigation Leader: How have the drought conditions on the river affected the district and its customers?

Robert Phillips: Streamflow data suggest that the Rio Grande has been experiencing a drought since 2001. The irrigationleadermagazine.com

data also illustrate that the total water diverted into the Farmers Union Canal for the last 20 years is 75 percent of the total water diverted during the 20 years prior to 2001. To fully grasp the meaning of the data, you need to understand the hydrology of the San Luis Valley. The farmers in the SLVID derive irrigation water from a big system that includes water supplies from both ground and surface water. The components of that big system are the Rio Grande, the small tributary streams in the area, and the deep and shallow aquifers of the San Luis Valley.

Engineering studies have shown that the groundwater aquifers of the valley are replenished by the Rio Grande and those small tributary streams. Ultimately, it’s all fed by high mountain snowpack; it’s a natural recharge system. The SLVID needs that snowpack to recharge the system so that groundwater can then be pumped for agricultural crops. The SLVID’s service area is located in the middle of the closed basin area of the San Luis Valley, where the groundwater management districts first began to develop. The SLVID is totally encompassed by Subdistrict No. 1. The economy here in the San Luis Valley is largely dependent on agriculture.

When severe drought hit in the Rio Grande basin in 2002, groundwater pumping throughout the valley drained a large number of the shallow aquifers in the San Luis Valley.

As early as 2006, the area farmers in Subdistrict No. 1, being the conservationists that they are, took it upon themselves to start looking closely at the local groundwater data compiled by a local engineering service. Discussions began about forming a groundwater management district shortly thereafter. The focus of the groundwater management district would be to reduce groundwater consumption within its boundaries. In 2011, Subdistrict No. 1 was formed under the management of the RGWCD. The farmers of this subdistrict, which included the farmers under our service area, decided it was time to take control and try to balance water supply with demand.

By 2011, most of the agricultural businessmen across the San Luis Valley began collaborating with the RGWCD to formalize the groundwater management districts throughout the San Luis Valley. The groundwater management subdistricts were developed in accordance with the hydrological areas, or basins, within the valley.

North of the Rio Grande is the closed-basin area where the SLVID’s service area is located. North of the closed-basin area are the Saguache and San Luis Creek drainage areas.

South of the Rio Grande are the Conejos River basin and the Alamosa River/La Jara Creek basins. Along the lower east side of the valley, you will find the Trinchera Irrigation District basin, which comprises the Culebra, Trinchera, and Ute Creek drainages. The groundwater aquifers are a bit different in each of these river basins. The groundwater management subdistricts were designed for each river basin area. Some subdistricts’ management areas have hundreds of groundwater wells feeding center pivots, while others have few. Some of the agricultural producers of a subdistrict March 2021 | IRRIGATION LEADER

| 37

management area still flood irrigate their farms. Each of the parameters of this groundwater management system had to be designed for its basin to make a comprehensive plan to keep the agricultural economy solid and sustainable.

Because the SLVID is in Subdistrict No. 1, a lot of cropping types within our service area were changed from what was historically grown to a crop type that maximizes the available groundwater supply. Crops that required heavy irrigation water use have been cut back. The farmers have tried to use their irrigation for more valuable crops. The RGWCD and the board of managers of the groundwater management districts continue to offset well depletions to the Rio Grande and to sustain and recharge their groundwater aquifers.

Agricultural conservation techniques for both soil and irrigation water use within our service area over the last 10 years have been remarkable. Farmers have always been conservationists, but with the organization of the groundwater management district came a big move to sustain the whole agricultural economy here. People in the San Luis Valley saw what was going on in the other river basins of Colorado, where the Colorado state engineer began curtailing wells and firmly enforcing groundwater rules. The SLVID’s farmers saw early on what was coming down the road and began trying diligently to control their water usage without state involvement.

Irrigation Leader: Have you already hit the point at which the aquifers have begun to recover?

38 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

Robert Phillips: There is not too much urbanization in the San Luis Valley itself. However, the urban areas on the Front Range are interested in reaching into the San Luis Valley for municipal water supplies. There is an organization called Renewable Water Resources that is based in the northeastern part of the San Luis Valley that supports the idea of exporting 22,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year to the Front Range communities. That organization is offering a lot of money to landowners in the northern part of the valley to purchase their water rights. The local farmers and ranchers in that area are struggling right now to manage their crop water use operations while also trying to manage the valley aquifers. When people begin telling them that they’ll pay a lot of money to buy their water rights to pump water out of the valley, it is a puzzling proposition. How can this organization find enough groundwater to pump to Front Range communities when there isn’t enough there for everyone here to farm with?

The general public in the San Luis Valley is strongly against the idea of transferring any water to the Front Range.

The RGWCD and the agricultural community are doing everything they can to oppose it. Unfortunately, it is legal for Renewable Water Resources to look into the possibility. Like I said earlier, the ground and surface water here in the San Luis Valley form one big system that works together. If you alter one part of the system, it will affect the others. This water system not only benefits farming, it has a lot of conservation, recreation, wildlife, and environmental benefits as well.

Irrigation Leader: Tell us about the expected conditions for your district and the Rio Grande in 2021.

Robert Phillips: It’s a little too early in the year to predict. SLVID personnel watch the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s monthly Rio Grande forecasted flows at Del Norte report throughout the spring to plan for the summer season. Unfortunately, based on current snowpack levels at the head of the Rio Grande, the February 1, 2021, Rio Grande at Del Norte forecasted that flow for April through September 2021 is about 78 percent of average. It’s not looking great, but it’s a little too soon to tell. We still have our heaviest snow months of the year, February and March, coming up, so we’re hoping for the best. IL Robert Phillips is the superintendent of the San Luis Valley Irrigation District.

He can be contacted at robert@slvid.org or (719) 754‑2254.

irrigationleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SLVID.

Robert Phillips: Subdistrict No. 1, in which the SLVID resides, began officially operating in 2011, and the unconfined aquifer underneath the service area of the subdistrict began to recover immediately. The recovery continued for the next 5 years. Since that time, the subdistrict has struggled to maintain its target recovery rate. Engineering analysis of the groundwater aquifers in the San Luis Valley suggests that this has been caused by recent lower-than-average stream flows in the Rio Grande its tributaries, which replenish those aquifers. Since 2012, farmers within our service area have reduced their irrigated acreage and groundwater usage by making use of short-term fallow programs offered by Subdistrict No. 1 and the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which fallows agricultural lands and water usage for 15 years. Engineering studies have shown that the rise in aquifer levels within Subdistrict No. 1 are totally dependent on the amount of recharge to the system from snowpack received in the high mountain ranges adjacent to it. As the drought continues, it becomes tougher and tougher for the farmers to keep the recovery of the aquifers on schedule. The Colorado state engineer has told Subdistrict No. 1 that the state is going to hold it to its deadline of 20 years from the time of inception to recover the unconfined aquifer to the level it chose for itself in its current plan of water management.

Irrigation Leader: What are the effects of urbanization on your water resources? Are you facing competition for water resources from the larger cities in Colorado?

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Products, Expertise, and Service: The SePRO Formula

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ePRO has nearly three decades of experience in providing aquatic chemicals for the irrigation sector. In this interview, Sam Barrick, SePRO’s vice president of marketing, tells Irrigation Leader about the company’s work in the irrigation sector and the products and services it provides.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell our readers about the history of SePRO. Sam Barrick: SePRO was started roughly 27 years ago when our founder was presented with an opportunity to acquire a few specialty products that were considered niche chemistries by the large manufacturers. He saw that managing and protecting water was always going to be important, given its role in food production in the West. He started the company to meet the need for products to manage harmful algal blooms in water reservoirs and invasive aquatic weeds that grow in lakes, rivers, and irrigation canals.

We have the most comprehensive portfolio of aquatic technologies in the industry. Some of the brand names in the canal and irrigation market are Nautique, Captain XTR, Sonar, SeClear, Clearcast, Galleon, Clearigate, Cutrine, Phycomycin, and Phoslock.

Irrigation Leader: What do SePRO’s recent acquisitions mean for western irrigation districts and canal companies?

Sam Barrick: In SePRO’s acquisition of Applied Biochemists, we’ve brought together two strong organizations that, combined, have almost 100 years of experience in the industry to support the aquatic weed and algae needs of irrigation districts and canal companies.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about SePRO’s work in nutrient control.

Sam Barrick: Phosphorus pollution is one of the fastest growing environmental challenges in the United States.

Various canal managers in the 17 western states have told us phosphorus pollution from runoff is a growing concern and could affect their ability to discharge water. We have developed some technologies that can be placed in and along canals to help reduce phosphorus levels in the water prior to discharge. These technologies rapidly bind phosphorus and do not have any irrigation restrictions.

Irrigation Leader: How does that technology work?

phosphorus at the same time. Phoslock strips phosphorus out of the water and creates a permanent bond so the phosphorous is not released from the soil. We are also excited about a new technology we are planning to have available for the 2021 season.

The new product is called EutroSORB. It will come in bags that can be placed in the water to filter out phosphorus.

Irrigation Leader: What should every irrigation district know about working with SePRO? Sam Barrick: They should know that we are a U.S.-based company and are truly passionate about helping our customers be successful. Mike Pearce, our portfolio leader, grew up working in the canal industry. He knows how hard people in this industry work to deliver water. You cannot control whether it is going to be a wet spring or a wet winter, and you cannot prevent weather that creates algal blooms. Our technologies and expertise help us guide our customers in all those scenarios.

We approach every situation with the recognition that there is no one solution that fixes all problems.

Irrigation Leader: What is your message to Congress about the importance of aquatic herbicides and the ability to use those safely?

Sam Barrick: All the tools needed to deliver water and produce an abundant and safe food supply should continue to be available. Irrigation professionals are passionate about protecting the environment, preserving the natural resources we are blessed with, and delivering water safely to their water users. Herbicides and algaecides are needed by irrigation districts and canal companies to effectively get rid of invasive weeds, control algae, and efficiently deliver water.

There are many layers of stewardship built into protecting people and the environment, starting with label recommendations and including the ongoing certifications and training that irrigation districts provide to their employees.

My message to Congress is to continue to support the use of herbicides and algaecides. Let these technologies go through the appropriate regulatory process. Make sure those regulations are based on sound science. We should feel confident that the ongoing use and management of these tools will do what it has done for decades: help to safely deliver the water used to produce an abundant food supply to all of us at a low cost. IL Sam Barrick is SePRO’s vice president of marketing. He can be contacted at samb@sepro.com or (317) 216‑8073.

Sam Barrick: The products are Phoslock and SeClear, which can be used in combination or individually. SeClear is an algaecide and water quality enhancer. It controls algae and sequesters

42 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2021

irrigationleadermagazine.com

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Upcoming Events March 3 Texas Water Conservation Association, Annual Convention (virtual) March 9 & 30, April 13 & 27 Nevada Water Resources Association, Webinar Series March 10, April 14, & May 12 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable Series (virtual) March 11 Oregon Water Resources Congress, District Managers Workshop, Newport, OR CANCELED: March 13–17 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Washington, DC, Meeting March 17, 24, & 31 Association of California Water Agencies, Federal Water Issues Webinars April 21–23 P3 Water Summit (virtual) May 4–7 Texas Ground Water Association, Annual Convention and Trade Show, San Marcos, TX May 12–13 Association of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference and Exhibition (virtual) May 17–19 Utah Water Users Association, Annual Workshop, St. George, UT May 19–21 Multi-State Salinity Coalition, Annual Salinity Summit, Las Vegas, NV June TBD Groundwater Management Districts Association, Summer Conference, TBD June TBD Idaho Water Users Association, Summer Meeting, TBD June 7–8 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Basin Tour, TBD June 7–11 2021 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress (virtual) June 14–17 Nevada Water Resources Association, Well and Water Week, Reno, NV June 16–18 Texas Water Conservation Association, Summer Conference, Horseshoe Bay, TX

Past issues of Irrigation Leader are archived at irrigationleadermagazine.com /IrrigationLeader

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