Water studies stoke worry

Water studies in Oregon and across the nation are being met with more than a little skepticism from farmers and ranchers, and well they should.

The first step on the state and national level is to document where every drop of water lurks. The next step, some folks fear, is to re-allocate that water.

For many in agriculture, that could mean taking the water from farmers and ranchers and giving it to cities and to increase streamflows for fish.

Proponents of the studies, including those at the Oregon Department of Water Resources, assure the public that this is a straightforward exercise.

"I can tell you from the multiple agencies involved and the governor's office that it is not the intent at all to remove or jeopardize water rights," Brenda Bateman, senior policy coordinator with the OWRD, told the Capital Press.

Others, however, are not comfortable with the study, how it's being handled and, ultimately, with the strategy that will emerge from it.

Curtis Martin, chairman of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association's water resources committee, characterized it as a solution in search of a problem. Instead of spending time and money on the study, Martin and his group would prefer that it go toward taking care of the backlog of water-use permit applications.

Katie Fast, government affairs director of the Oregon Farm Bureau, and Helen Moore of Water for Life, a pro-agriculture water-user group, also have qualms.

Both see potential pitfalls for agriculture, such as taking water from farms and ranches for other purposes.

The makeup of a key committee also has Moore worried that the environmental groups have a seat at the table while agriculture is excluded.

The "ecological flow" advisory committee has a hydrologist from the Nature Conservancy on it to study squishy language such as "peak and ecological flows," terms that in practice could mean just about anything.

Add to those concerns a national water census that the U.S. Geological Survey plans, and agriculture has plenty to worry about. This study will focus on water use and supply, groundwater resources and "ecological flow" science -- there's that phrase again -- which determines how much water must be left in rivers and streams to sustain wildlife and the environment.

The only way to make sure agriculture is not factored out of these strategies and other plans is to monitor them every step of the way and to insist on a place at the table.

Water wars are nothing new to the West, where agriculture has been caught in the crossfire for decades.

With these studies and strategies in the making, who could blame farmers and ranchers for being more than a little skeptical, and nervous.

After all, when water supplies get tight, they lose out.