Drought and Water

It’s not the way the Roza Irrigation District in central Washington wanted to start the 2025 season.     Roza Manager Scott Revell said they started filling the canals with water about a week ago, with the plan of being up and running to start April.  However, on Friday...

Last week, the Idaho State House passed Senate Bill 1083 A.  The legislation looks to address declining groundwater levels in several areas of the state, which has cost water users and the state tens of millions of dollars.  Senate Bill 1083 A proposes four key changes:     Fairness in Administration – The bill specifies that new subdivisions in areas of the state designated as Ground Water Manag

The Washington Department of Ecology say water users in the Nooksack watershed and adjacent areas should begin receiving their adjudication claim forms via certified mail this week.  The mailing list includes about 30,000 landowners.  Ecology...

There are several on-farm issues the Snake River Sugarbeet Growers Association is working on this legislative session in Boise.  And for Executive Director Samantha Parrott, no issue is bigger than water.   She said there were several challenges last year in the eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer, which put hundreds of thousands of acres of water in jeopardy.  While an agr...

Snowpacks across Idaho are looking very good as we head into the final weeks of the snow season.  When it comes to individual basins across the Gem state, most are at or above normal for this time of year, with the one expectation being the Coeur D’Alene-St. Joe in norther...

The Bureau of Reclamation is out with its first water supply forecast of the year, and it looks like the Yakima basin may have a challenging irrigation season ahead.  Reclamation’s March 2025 total water supply available forecast indicates the water supply will not fully meet irrigation demands this season.  The early est...

Typically, here in the Northwest, the snowpack’s high-water mark is April 1st, meaning the region has only a few more weeks, or perhaps months on the snow season.  When it comes to the Oregon, Matt Warbritton with NRCS says the statewide snowpack is pretty robust right now.   “...

As we move into the final months of the western snowpack season, how might what we see in the higher elevations translate to support of regional water supplies for agricultural irrigation and municipal H2O?   “Following two favorable winters, previously, California's intrastate reservoirs remain in reasonably good shape," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "This ye...

Last week, the Idaho state Senate passed Senate Bill 1083 A, moving the legislation to the House Resources Committee to possibly be considered this week.  The legislation looks to address declining groundwater levels in several areas of the state, which has cost water users and the state tens of millions of dollars.  Senate ...

Idaho lawmakers are considering reforms to the state’s domestic use exemption in Idaho water law.  The Idaho Farm Bureau Federation’s Braden Jensen said Senate Bill 1083A, was developed by a water user workgroup, of which IFBF was a part.   “Curren...