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Growing up
on a ranch in Nebraska's Sandhills above the Ogallala
aquifer, I learned early that water matters.
Across the ranch, we had six flowing wells
that emitted sweet cold water and gave us places to
cool off after working in the hayfield or driving cattle.
But by the time I'd reached high school, most of those
wells stopped flowing, due in part to the proliferation
of pivot irrigation systems installed over a decade.
Eventually we had to drill a deeper well for our ranch
house as well.
For nearly twenty years, I routinely crossed the Platte
River as I drove home to the ranch from Lincoln, where
I had moved after I graduated from high school. During
that time, I watched the river flows dwindle year by
year. Last October when I drove across the bridge that
spanned that river, the riverbed was a continuous sandbar
interrupted periodically by little pools of water.
Since we've moved to Montana, I've seen the landscape
change here as well. Over the past fourteen years, I've
watched the stands of aspen that line a favorite riding
trail die as the springs around them dried up. We no
longer see moose in the formerly boggy area, and now
there are trails we avoid in the height of summer as
there is no longer any water for our horses or dogs.
Water supplies may ebb and flow from year to year,
but it's apparent that areas are drying up.
Nearly every day in some area of the West, people are
talking about water, and the media are covering those
discussions.
In Montana, while watershed groups work on local issues,
the state is wrangling with two of its neighbors about
water. British Columbia officials are reviewing a plan
to allow coal mining operations within the headwaters
of the Flathead River — but citizen groups and state
officials are working hard to stay involved and have
their say on that proposal.
Montana recently passed new water quality regulations,
which neighboring Wyoming is disputing because of the
effect those rules would have on that state's coalbed
methane operations.
In the north central region of Montana, communities
in six rural counties are working together to build
a water system that serves them all. They formed
the Central Montana Water Authority to consolidate funding
efforts for a pipeline, whose source is a deep production well,
to serve the communities of Judith Gap and Harlowtown
first, and later Roundup, Ryegate, Lavina,
Melstone and Broadview.
In 2005, the Montana Legislature passed
a water tax to fund a study that would help determine who owns the rights to
what water. Gov. Brian Schweitzer subsequently vowed
to nix that program as part of his "Square Deal with
Montana" program — despite the fact that tens of thousands
of the 220,000 water rights claims filed over the past
decade have yet to be reviewed.
A clear record of who owns what water rights in the
state may help the state and local governments make
better planning decisions.
The rest of the Rocky Mountain states are dealing with
myriad water issues as well.
In Arizona, where subdivisions with thousands of new
homes are often proposed, the governor was recently
quoted as saying she'd like to give rural communities
the ability to limit growth based on water supplies.
In Colorado, the Legislature created water roundtables
to work on issues within their watersheds.
In Idaho, the state, with funding from the federal
government, is paying farmers to idle 100,000 acres
of farmland over the next 15 years — saving 200,000
acres of groundwater each year.
In Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water Authority's (SNWA)
proposal to pump groundwater from rural parts of Utah
and Nevada to supply Las Vegas has garnered a lot of
opposition. Utah lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution
opposing the plan.
Ironically, Los Angeles just opened the gates to return
water to the Owens River, sucked dry by that California
metropolis over the past 100 years. Opponents to the
SNWA's plan have often invoked the dewatering of the Owens River
as an example of what could happen should SNWA be successful
in its quest for the groundwater.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson vowed to make the 2007
Legislature the "Year of Water," and laid out his ambitious
agenda to do that even before his successful re-election.
Wyoming's coalbed methane operations have released
millions of gallons of discharge water and created
a torrent of complaints from ranchers and others who
say the salty water is ruining the land.
Also in Wyoming, one county is seeking $300,000 to
study an underlying aquifer after a drop in the water table led
to the prohibition of new irrigation wells in the eastern
half of that county.
The watershed symposium and on-the-grounds efforts
discussed at that symposium provide some hope that local
efforts can help preserve the West's water and maybe
save some of our best watering holes for generations
to come.
As always, Headwaters News is interested in hearing
from our readers. Have you witnessed a change in the
quantity or quality of water in your community?
Is work occurring to stabilize or increase that water
supply?
Please share your water story with us.
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