The Devastating Impact of Shutting Off East Idaho Groundwater

Life for us, a ranching couple in Southeastern Idaho, has become increasingly difficult over the past two years. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) May 30th curtailment of groundwater users junior to March 31, 1954, has delivered a devastating blow to our operation. This order curtails 100% of the water for our farm ground, the very ground that produces the feed our cattle rely on for winter. 

Farmers and ranchers are a dying breed, and this curtailment order is catastrophic for other young operators like us. If Idaho truly cared about future generations, there must be a better solution than curtailment. The future of our children in ranching is looking extremely bleak.

To understand the gravity of the situation, it's essential to grasp how water rights work in Idaho. Water rights in Idaho follow the doctrine of "prior appropriation," often summarized as "first in time, first in right." This means that the priority of water rights is based on the chronological order of water claims. The earlier the claim, the higher the priority. In this case, water rights established before March 31, 1954, have seniority over those established after this date.

The IDWR’s curtailment order affects junior water rights holders, whose rights are dated after March 31, 1954. This means our operation and thousands of others are forced to shut off water access ultimately to ensure senior water rights holders receive their entitled share. Shutting off our water supply is not just a minor inconvenience; it’s a life-altering decree. Without water, we cannot irrigate our fields, leading to failed crops and a lack of feed for our cattle during winter.

Balancing the ups and downs of the commodities we raise is hard enough. But looking across the kitchen table at my husband every morning and saying, “What do we do?” with no answers year after year takes a severe emotional toll. This is a difficult conversation to have and trust me, men find it especially hard to talk about. The whiplash we’ve experienced this year due to IDWR’s various orders has created a volatile situation none of us are prepared to face. We haven’t had the same planting plan for more than five consecutive days while trying to comply with the state’s shifting demands. The number of orders, stipulated agreements, and hearing minutes issued by the Department are an overwhelming nightmare to interpret and enact. The volatility of the situation is causing severe strain on families struggling to keep it together.

The state’s casual mention of curtailing 6,400 water rights reduces our blood, sweat, and tears to just a number, disregarding the financial devastation this will cause to the state we love. Being a farmer or rancher takes a physical, emotional, and mental toll. This constant uncertainty is grueling. Shutting off water to crops that have already had all expenses paid for the year in April or May, with the possibility of turning pumps back on in July, is absurd. By then, the crops will be dead.

Without water, we can’t grow the feed necessary for our herds and fill the demands of the dairy farmers around the state. Milk and dairy product prices could rise as dairy operations are forced to buy feed from out of state at a higher cost. As farms across East Idaho fail, families across the region begin to lose everything — their land, homes, and families. Tragically, farmers are 3.5 times more likely to commit suicide than people in other professions.

After years of ongoing negotiations and living in a state that prides itself on being the least regulated, agriculture-friendly, conservative bastion, we are left to surmise that this is all about political gamesmanship. In blood-red Idaho, we have no patience for political games at the expense of our livelihoods.

We need level heads and more common sense from people who understand agriculture. The methodology’s over-prediction in the spring is neither reasonable nor applicable to real-life farming operations. Last year, BGWD spent $2 million to buy water to send to the SWC in April. Over the past thirty years, groundwater districts have bent over backward to avoid this curtailment order and provide the Surface Water Coalition with mitigation to offset their determined injuries. The most recent determined injury was gone by July, but we still had the bill. Assessments to patrons have doubled due to this. Money, time, and energy are wasted on an archaic set of rules that do not reflect modern farming practices.

Idaho’s prior appropriations doctrine was codified in the late 1800s and has changed little since. These antiquated laws hurt families who depend on water to help protect the national food supply.

The Director's interpretation of water law has dire consequences for farmers and ranchers. The constant uncertainty makes it impossible to make solid business decisions for future generations. Idaho has a water management problem, and I hope we can lead the way in remedying what the former Director called “draconian” tools to enforce Idaho water law. The state curtailing 400,000+ acres for a predicted 74,100 af injury is draconian. This order will curtail 103,000 acres in Bingham County alone, affecting 70% of farms.

To put this in perspective, one canal with a “possible” predicted injury can shut down the water to the entire upper snake basin. So if the Twin Falls canal is short twelve days of irrigation, most of the land in East Idaho that pumps its water from the ground has to be shut off for an undetermined amount of time to make up for its alleged shortage. How does this make any sense?

Whether you are a fifth-generation Idahoan or recently moved here for a better life, this curtailment will impact everyone because agriculture is the lifeblood of our communities. We need our elected officials to pay attention to this issue and focus on creating real change to prevent dehydrating Idaho's economy.

Written by Kassidy Ellis-Telford

Kassidy Ellis-Telford is a fourth-generation full-time cattle rancher who moonlights as an RN at her local Bingham County, Idaho hospital.

Learn more: Idaho Department of Water Resources director issues water curtailment order