By SARA HOTTMAN

H&N Staff Reporter

August 19, 2010    

   For nearly two decades, Horsefly Irrigation District has balanced water pressure between Big Spring and Lost River to ensure the river doesn’t backflow into the spring, where the groundwater that fills Bonanza residents’ wells surfaces.

   “We’re at the point where we’re very close to finishing the crops,” Russell said. “Most irrigators have senior water rights, but domestic users always have priority.

   “We have rights through the Water Resource Department to pump at 59 (cubic feet per second). But if the department chooses to shut off groundwater wells, really our only source of water right now, then we will have to board up the river and try to save the crops that we can.”

   Origins of the obligation

   After the 1992 drought in the Basin, the district went through the permit process to install wells so they could irrigate through another drought, Russell said.  

   The permit stipulated that Horsefly Irrigation District balance water pressure by keeping Lost River six inches below Big Spring, where the aquifer that holds groundwater surfaces.

   The town of Bonanza doesn’t have its own water system, so all households, about 150, must use wells.

   There has not been any backflow this summer or for several years, Russell said.

   This summer, the seasonal increase in watering, compounded with farmers’ irrigating and an already low groundwater level, has made the balancing equation additionally difficult, risking domestic users’ water quality and farmers’ ability to irrigate.

   “It’s a very delicate and troublesome job each year, but it’s just something we do right now until we arrive at a better solution,” Russell said.

   Solutions

   Russell said the most logical solution to the balancing act also is the most expensive and faces the most government hurdles.

   “We need a huge reservoir that we could fill with storm water and snow water and groundwater that we could store and then use through tough times,” Russell said. “Our representatives have got to see the importance of making an investment in the American people, in storage.  

   “We rush to Haiti, we rush to Pakistan, and I’m not saying that’s bad, but it’s time the leaders of this nation realize (water storage) is life, is prosperity.”

   Russell said a store of water could serve growers during drought conditions while also protecting domestic well users’ water source.

   Creating a water reservoir would be expensive, but it would also face a multitude of federal and state environmental assessments and reports to fulfill the Environmental Policy, Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

   “It’s time that we face that and figure out how to help people,” Russell said.  

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