AND FREEZE 'EM, OR CAN 'EM.
IDAHO SHUTS DOWN FARMERS "We're all going to fail" 15 MINUTES
Great topic, Jean! thanks
I would need much more research to completely understand the specific dynamics here.
How depleted is the aquifer?
What is the break down of the curtailment?
Are some people getting 0 water for irrigation and others 100%.
The timing seems really bad, but is it based on the water availability that couldn't be assessed 6 months ago?
I'm not taking sides but the Ogallalla Aquifer and other places are drying up because nobody wants to take the strong medicine today to sustain the water supply for our grandchildren.
THANKS, MIKE. THAT ARTICLE MADE THINGS AS CLEAR AS MUD,TO ME. LOL I DO 'BLEVE IT'S GONNA WIND UP IN COURT.
YES, I DO BELIEVE IN CONSERVING WATER, AT ALL TIMES, BUT... TO CUT ANYONES WATER OFF IS ASININE, IMO.
A PIG FARMER AROUND THE CORNER FROM ME, HAS HUGE PONDS OF PIG SLUDGE & THAT'S HOW HE WATERS HIS CROPS, WHEN NEED BE... WE'RE SITTING ON TOP OF A LAKE.
WHEN I HAD MY WELL DRILLED, THEY HIT WATER @ 25'... THEY QUIT DRILLING @ 80'.
Thanks for Another great article to research and learn from to see what's really going on.
Actually, I'm on a team with my wife that's working on greatly improving desalination systems to convert sea water to useful water on a massive scale so this is tremendously interesting and relevant.
On the Snake River Valley in Idaho:
https://www.isu.edu/digitalgeologyidaho/srp-aquifer/
I'm having a hard time trying to see the justification of such sudden extreme measures and harm to farmers in Idaho.
Neither the Snake River Valley in Southern Idaho or the state of Oregon are suffering from a major drought at this time.
This is apparently part of a long term plan.
DROUGHT MONITOR
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Things were dry in this area in 2022 and this article from that time frame explains things better:
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For perspective, here's the drought monitor at various times the last several years, showing natural ebbs and flows or rainfall and drought:
DROUGHT MONITOR
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Last week as of June 4, 2024-no drought in California from the Winter El Nino. Most drought in the Midwest wiped out!
ONLY KANSAS has major drought in the key growing region(Winter Wheat).
As of March 12, 2024
January 30, 2024 below
DECEMBER 12, 2023 below
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
October 17, 2023
August, 2023, BELOW
April 18, 2023-1 year ago:
DROUGHT MONITOR NOVEMBER 1, 2022-After a long lived La Nina-BEFORE EL NINO wiped out much of the drought OUT WEST the Winter of 2022/23!
Drought monitor previous years: You can see the natural La Niña, (cold water-in the tropical Pacific)causing the drought! Starting in 2020, then worsening for 2+ years!
My thinking is that this current penalty to farmers and others that aren't first in line for water rights is very unfair because this area is NOT like the Ogallala Aquifer that takes thousands of years to recharge and goes down every single year....year after year after year.
The Snake River Aquifer, apparently CAN BE recharged in years with abundant precipitation.
The other thing seems to be the unfairness of the rules that gives entities that started using the water first, the rights to the water before those that came later.
This is not based on the benefits to the state of Idaho and people living there.
I get the reason but we could also claim those same early entities have used 100 years of Snake River Aquifer water, when the others didn't. Why is this justification of permanently bumping out those others for future water usage?
Some of those OTHERS are vital to the CURRENT economy of Idaho. This isn't 1924, it's 2024 and looking forward not backward.
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I don't know. Does this seem right to you?
They treat this like property rights. I get property rights because it's a piece of land that YOU OWN.
Nobody should be able to OWN water and rain/melted snow in that same way that is flowing from one place or another that happens to pass over ground they own and on the way to passing over ground that others own.
They recognize that but give priority to an entity that made their stake 100 years ago, which is negating that principle by short changing recent, just as deserving stakes.
MIKE.... I FEEL IT'S VERY UNFAIR!! BASICALLY, THE GOVT. IS AFTER WHOMEVER CAN SURVIVE WITH NO OR NOT MUCH NEED FOR THE GOVT. THEY'VE RECENTLY SHUT DOWN PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN SELF SUFFICIENT, FOR YEARS.
"CLICK YOUR HEELS & RAISE YOUR HAND!!"
