Farmers
face parched water outlook
Drought advances, but hope remains
David
Peregrino
El Paso Times
Sunday,
January 26, 2003
Farmers are pouring
thousands of dollars into new wells, and irrigation district ditch
riders are taking stress-management courses as the borderland
agricultural community prepares for one of the driest irrigation
seasons in decades.
Because of
historically low snowpack levels in the northern New Mexico and
southern Colorado mountains that feed the Rio Grande, this year
farmers may get just a fraction of the river water they're used to
receiving.
And the first delivery
of water, usually released mid-February, may come as late as April,
making for some tough choices deciding which crops to plant when,
irrigation district officials said.
"If you've gone up to
(Elephant Butte reservoir) lately, you can tell we're really in a
dismal situation," said Gary Esslinger, manager of the Elephant Butte
Irrigation District.
The reservoir is now
down to 17 percent of its capacity, holding about 349,000 acre-feet of
water. When full, the reservoir holds more 2 million acre-feet of
water.
Barring a snowy
miracle between now and spring, farmers accustomed to 10 to 13
irrigations a season may have to make do with as few as three
irrigations this year, said Denise McWilliams, an agronomist with New
Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service.
"It's going to be a
tough year," McWilliams said.
Keeping in touch
To prepare for the
season, Esslinger said, the district has contacted all of its farmers
to warn them of the severity of the river drought.
The district also
surveyed the water users to find out which crops they planned to plant
and which farmers would be willing to pump underground water into the
district's system to help others.
The district needs to
identify those farmers so meters can be installed on the pumps to
measure the amount of groundwater pumped into the canal system, and so
district officials can monitor the quality of the water, Esslinger
said.
If a farmer pumps
water for a downstream neighbor in need, it will be up to the farmers,
and not the district, to decide how much will be paid for the
underground water, he said.
Esslinger said he
expects farmers to cooperate with each other -- as they did in the
extended droughts of the 1950s and '70s -- and negotiate reasonable
prices for well water.
Now, the price for
river water in the Elephant Butte district is $50 for the first 2
acre-feet, and $18 for each acre-foot after that, Esslinger said.
An acre-foot is
325,829 gallons, enough to cover an acre of land in 1 foot of water.
He expects farmers to
charge each other about $25 to $30 an hour of pump time or acre-foot.
Heated emotions
Esslinger said a
drought year also often gets tempers fired up, especially if farmers
think others are getting preferential treatment in deliveries or if a
farmer risks losing a crop because the water isn't there when he needs
it.
"We're doing a lot of
education and training for our ditch riders to deal with the farmers
who want their water. The district has already given them some
stress-management courses," Esslinger said.
Esslinger said the
district will have a series of public meetings beginning in early
February from Hatch all the way to Anthony to keep farmers abreast of
the drought situation.
"In a drought, there's
a lot of things that are said, a lot of things that are misunderstood.
If the farmers have any questions or concerns, they can talk to me,"
he added.
In El Paso
Edd Fifer, general
manager of El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1, said he's
been visiting with farmers for weeks to help them prepare for the
season. Fifer's district distributes water to El Paso farmers.
Fifer said
improvements to the district's delivery system made during the past
two decades will help El Paso farmers get through the year.
Recalling the droughts
of the '50s, '60s, and '70s, he said the district did things such as
add canals with concrete and add meters to every water turnout in
anticipation of droughts in the '80s and '90s that never came.
"We've been very
lucky," Fifer said. "But we've been planning for this drought for 20
years. We know where every drop of water is going. All of this
technology is going to help us get through this thing."
Like the Elephant
Butte district, the El Paso district plans to supplement its river
allotment with underground water.
Farmers will also be
left to decide how much to charge a neighbor for pumped water, Fifer
said.
But El Paso's
underground water won't always be the ideal solution for thirsty
crops, because of its high salt content, Fifer said.
District officials
will have to monitor the water pumped into the system, and farmers
will have to be judicious in using the salty underground water because
too much can damage good cropland.
"Our water quality is
so poor," Fifer said.
He will continue to
have weekly meetings with county farmers to keep the lines of
communication open.
"We're available to
help any way we can," Fifer said.
Spending to survive
The expense of
rehabilitating old pumps or digging new wells to supplement river
water is another difficulty many farmers will face this year.
Paul Dulin, who has 26
acres of pecan trees on his farm north of Las Cruces, said he expects
he will have to spend $16,000 to $20,000 for a deep well and pump this
season.
He said he has no
choice but to swallow the cost because "you can't lose the investment
in your trees."
Dulin said the cost of
the pump will be manageable because he will pay for it through a line
of credit that he can extend several years, if need be.
But he's aware that
other farmers may not have the resources to make such investments in
their land.
"It's not going to be
easy if they've got their farms mortgaged to the hilt," Dulin said.
"Some farmers are living on the edge right now."
Dulin has also done
his homework to prepare for a worst-case scenario. He's consulted with
NMSU pecan experts to determine the least amount of water he can use
to keep his trees alive this season.
Dulin has figured he
can get by with four irrigations this year. Normally, a pecan stand
like his would need 10 irrigations for a good crop.
But if he can use only
the minimum amount of water to keep his trees alive, "you won't have a
good nut in there ... and you'll have some dieback of the trees,"
Dulin said.
However, Dulin's main
worry right now is getting the state engineer's office to quickly
approve his application for a well permit.
He said the engineer's
office is inundated with permit applications, and he was told it may
be spring before his well is approved.
"And I still have to
go out and get a well driller -- and they are all busy, of course,"
Dulin said. "It's going to be real stressful at that time."
Smart drought
planning
NMSU Extension
agronomist McWilliams said she's been kept very busy helping farmers
prepare for the river drought.
She said many farmers
will be choosing to plant low-water-use crops such as onions, lettuce
and sorghum, and moderate-water-use cotton varieties such as Acala and
Pima.
She said farmers can
consult experts at county extension offices and attend some farming
conferences in Ruidoso to get useful information on how to prepare for
the season.
"This year, more than
ever before, they are really going to have to look at some of their
cropping plans," McWilliams said.
David Peregrino may be reached at
dperegrino@elpasotimes
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