Thread: Water supplier moves to cut off Texas rice farmers

Water supplier moves to cut off rice farmers

Updated at 06:05 PM today






EAGLE LAKE, TX -- Texas rice farmers probably won't get irrigation water to flood their fields for an unprecedented second consecutive year after officials overseeing major reservoirs in Central Texas voted Tuesday to cut off downstream allotments if there's no significant rain by March.

The Lower Colorado River Authority unanimously voted in Austin to withhold the water if the combined storage of Lakes Travis and Buchanan is less than 850,000 acre-feet on March 1. The lakes are currently at just more than 825,000 acre-feet, and it is unlikely there will be enough rain in the coming months to fill the reservoirs.

Texas is the fifth-largest rice producer in the United States, and the economies of three downstream counties are heavily reliant on the industry that contributes $1 billion annually to the state's economy.

Rice is typically grown in paddies, or flooded fields. The water helps rice grow in clay-like soil that is not good for most other crops and helps deter pests.

The state, though, has been dealing with a severe drought for several years, including a historic one-year spell through 2011 that was so hot and dry that many lakes and rivers still have not recovered. Those waterways feed the irrigation canals and streams upon which rice farmers rely.

While conditions aren't as bad as they once were, about 65 percent of the state remains in severe drought. The LCRA board voted in November to cut off water to rice farmers if the combined storage in the two lakes fell below 775,000 acre-feet on Jan. 1 or March 1. But the driest November and December since 1950 prompted the board to revisit that decision.

"We're in the middle of a drought that could end up being the worst in recorded history," LCRA General Manager Becky Motal said in a statement. "This drought has been painful for everyone, but LCRA is committed to protecting the water supply of the city of Austin and the other communities and major industries throughout the basin."

When the board decided to cut off water for the 2012 season, it was the first time in state history that rice farmers were denied irrigation waters from the lakes their forefathers lobbied to build in the 1940s.

Ronald Gertson, chairman of the Colorado Water Issues Committee, which represents downstream water interests, especially those of rice farmers, said he and other rice farmers are shouldering a disproportionate burden of the drought and called for LCRA to build downstream water storage facilities to ensure farmers have water.

"It is imperative that the burden of securing reliable water supplies be shared up and down the basin," he said in a statement.

Last year, crop insurance covered about half the farmers' losses, and many will likely get similar compensation this year, said Tom Kelley, a rice farmer and insurance broker in Eagle Lake. That money, though, is only available to farmers -- not, for example, the marketers, diesel fuel sellers, storage facilities and others who support the industry, he said. And those that grow seed, a sizeable percentage of farmers in Colorado County, also are ineligible.

If water is cut off like last year, Kelley said he will be able to use groundwater to farm just over 100 acres of his 600-acre spread. His business partner, Bryan Wiese, didn't farm any of his 1,700 acres last year, and without water won't be able to this year either. To help deal with the loss, Kelley will cut his full-time worker down to part-time, and Wiese will lay off one of his two workers.

"You don't expect years like this," Wiese said. "You don't anticipate this to happen."
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=8946582

Texas-New Mexico water feud goes to Supreme Court

Posted: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 8:42 pm
Associated Press

Texas officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to force New Mexico to abide by an agreement about sharing water from the Rio Grande. But New Mexico officials said the move is "tantamount to extortion."

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the litigation was filed after negotiations with New Mexico were unsuccessful. The agency says New Mexico is violating the 1938 Rio Grande Compact that governs how water is shared by Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

But New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said a 2008 agreement between two water districts unfavorably changed the allocation of water to his state. King said Texas is trying to force New Mexico to abide by an unfair agreement and called the lawsuit "tantamount to extortion."

Texas accuses New Mexico of allowing illegal diversions of surface and underground water of the Rio Grande near the Texas-New Mexico border. Texas officials say those diversions take away water from farmers and residents in and around El Paso, a drought-stricken area that gets about half of its drinking water and most of its irrigation water from the Rio Grande.

Texas is asking the Supreme Court to order New Mexico to comply with the compact and to award damages.

New Mexico also has been struggling with drought and above-normal temperatures for the past two years.

The fight hinges on a 2008 agreement between the federal government and two irrigation districts, one in Texas and the other in New Mexico, that use water from the Elephant Butte reservoir. The issue has been ongoing since the 1980s.

Historically, the lawsuit states, New Mexico received about 57 percent of the water from the reservoir, while Texas got the remaining 43 percent. However, King said the 2008 agreement changed the method of water allocation from 57 percent to only 38 percent, while the Texas share was increased to 62 percent.

Texas argues that New Mexico has litigated in federal and state courts in order to circumvent that 2008 agreement.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's office had not yet seen the lawsuit, her spokesman Enrique Knell said.

"We will continue to strongly defend New Mexico's water rights. We are reviewing the Texas lawsuit and will decide how best to protect the water that is so vital to New Mexican families and businesses. We won't cede a single inch of New Mexico water to Texas," Knell said.

But even if the Supreme Court accepts the case, a ruling could be years away, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

In its complaint, Texas estimates the amount of water diverted by New Mexico is at least tens of thousands of acre-feet each year _ maybe even hundreds of thousands. An acre-foot equals 325,000 gallons.

New Mexico has had little meaningful snowpack at high elevations in recent years and not enough spring and summer runoff to replenish the state's rivers and reservoirs.

Thousands of farmers across southern New Mexico have been forced to pump more groundwater to irrigate their crops. Some stretches of the Rio Grande and Pecos River even went dry last summer, and forecasters are predicting little moisture through the spring months.

Still, Ed Archuleta, president of El Paso Water Utilities, said the complaint is justified. He said drought has forced New Mexico farmers to pump underground water from wells affecting the supply of water to the river. New Mexico, he said, has not monitored the underground pumping by its farmers.

Archuleta explained that although his utility normally gets half of El Paso's water supply from the river _ about 60,000 acre-feet _ it received about 45 percent of that amount last year. This year, he is expecting even less but said the city is prepared.

Both states tried to resolve the issue in 2011, during negotiations that involved Rio Grande Commissioner Patrick Gordon, New Mexico officials and the commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Carlos Rubinstein.

"New Mexico's response was to initiate legal action on the same day when our representative was meeting with them," the commission said in an email Tuesday.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/texas/article_cb5eadae-7900-5231-9d9d-25a4bc582424.html