The state of water: western briefs

As water shortages loom western states gear for war.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego wants to impose an excise tax on foreign entities exporting crops from dry parts of the country, an issue Arizona is facing. A deal between Fontomonte, a Saudi-owned agriculture company, and the state of Arizona allows them to harvest alfalfa with groundwater and send it back to the Middle East to feed cattle. The company uses enough water to supply 54,000 homes annually, Gallego’s office said in a news release. "While Arizona experiences the driest conditions in centuries, our water is being given away in a sweetheart deal with Saudi Arabia,” Gallego said. [Phoenix congressman files bill taxing Saudi crop exports in Arizona]

When Colorado River Basin water rights were divvied up starting in 1922, officials overestimated the amount of water the system would produce each year and ultimately promised more water to stakeholders than actually existed. Climate change, drought, shifting weather patterns and a population explosion in the region have exacerbated that initial over-subscription. [Wyoming girds for a fight over Green, Little Snake River water]

A western Kansas groundwater district is testing the theory that the Missouri River could be tapped to help deal with the declining Ogallala Aquifer by trucking 6,000 gallons of water roughly 400 miles to parched areas of Kansas and Colorado. It took just a few minutes for that water to soak into the riverbed. [Declining Ogallala Aquifer Prompts Test to Transfer Water From Missouri River]

Elizabeth Wakeman has been watching the Big Sioux River for decades, concerned about its future for many reasons. “We need to get the Big Sioux flowing again,” said Wakeman, the Natural Resources Office’s Brownfield Coordinator. [Getting the river flowing again]

New Mexico, Texas and Colorado have negotiated a proposed settlement they say will end a yearslong battle over management of one of the longest rivers in North America, but the federal government and two irrigation districts that depend on the Rio Grande are objecting. Earlier this year, some of the river’s stretches in New Mexico marked record low flows, resulting in some farmers voluntarily fallowing fields to help the state meet downstream water-sharing obligations. [New Mexico, Texas and Colorado reach agreement on Rio Grande dispute; feds object]

A warming globe and dwindling water supply are forcing conversations on alternative water sources, so some water engineers and scientists are encouraging New Mexico to start treating and using the toxic water that comes from oil and gas extraction. Rebecca Sobel is the director of WildEarth Guardians and organized a news conference just a few miles away from the New Water conference to speak against reusing produced water. “Our state’s precious freshwater is pumped 10,000 feet into the ground, coming back as a chemical cocktail known as — quote — produced water,” Sobel said. [Water companies want NM to reuse oil and gas byproduct, despite safety and environmental concerns]

The Gila River Indian Community announced plans to conserve a large portion of its water supplies over the next three years. The tribe is seeking payment from a new federal program designed to incentivize reductions in water use. As climate change has crippled the nation’s largest reservoirs, a patchwork of short-term conservation agreements has emerged to prevent catastrophe before 2026. [Arizona tribe announces water conservation plans, seeks federal payments]

A long-simmering project to deliver clean drinking water to more than 22,500 Eastern Montana residents got a boost this week. As planned, the system would pull 4,000 acre feet of water a year from Fort Peck Reservoir near the North Fork of Rock Creek and treat the water at a newly constructed plant nearby. From the plant the water would be pumped through a spider web of about 1,350 miles of pipeline across a region stretching more than 100 miles east to west, from Sand Springs to Fairview in a region between the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. The Dry Redwater Regional Water Authority is one of four rural water projects being developed across the eastern two-thirds of the state. [Eastern Montana drinking water project gets $3M to update study]

Water management professionals say more soil and fertilizer will leave farms and enter the state’s waterways as climate change intensifies storms and droughts. Experts from around the nation discussed the problem recently at the annual Eastern South Dakota Water Conference in Brookings. More intense droughts could also cause problems with fertilizer management, according to South Dakota State University Extension Water Management Engineer John McMaine. [Changing climate could flush more soil and fertilizers into water, experts say]

Late monsoonal rains have provided some surprise inflow to Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs. Dr. Phil King, EBID’s hydrology consultant, reported at the District’s monthly board meeting that project storage has increased by about 30,000 acre-feet since the September board meeting. Since the reservoir releases ceased in August, Elephant Butte Reservoir has gained about 47,000 acre-feet, and Caballo reservoir is up by 28,000 acre-feet. “The Rio Grande Project was built and lives on snowmelt runoff from southern Colorado and northern New Mexico (the watershed headwaters), and that’s what has cratered,” King explained. [EBID’s October Outlook: State Of The Water Update]

Routt County intends to join Eagle County’s effort to stop 100-tanker long trains transporting heated “waxy crude” along the banks of the Colorado River every day as it makes its way from Utah to the Gulf of Mexico for refinement. “What happens if that waxy crude that’s heated ends up in the Colorado River?” asked Eagle County Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry, at a joint meeting between county leaders in Yampa on Monday, Oct. 24. “Which there’s a really good chance,” Routt Commissioner Tim Corrigan added. “There is a lot of places where the tracks are right next to the river.” [Routt County intends to join Eagle County effort opposing shipment of waxy crude along Colorado River]

As of October 21st, the Missouri River main stem reservoir system storage is at 47-point-six million acre feet. Runoff for 2022 is forecast at 19-point-five million acre feet. Average runoff is 25-point-seven million acre feet. [Fall Public Meeting In Fort Pierre Tuesday]