Idaho’s Water Crisis
Imagine a day when government officials tell you that you no longer have access to air because taller people need it more, or that you must curtail your oxygen usage because older people were born first and get priority. This is the reality of water management in Idaho today. How can our farmers and ranchers run their businesses under such uncertainty?
This curtailment, no matter how legally justified, is irresponsible. To the average person, it feels like an unnecessary heavy-handed approach.
Every year, millions of acre-feet of water are wasted down our rivers, yet if there's money to be made, senior water rights holders, canal companies, and their attorneys will find a way to profit. Discrepancies in monitoring formulas, disagreements over which mitigation plans to recognize, and poor management are driving these decisions. The governor must step in to halt the curtailment order, and the legislature needs to reform Idaho's water management rules and laws.
When rivers are flooding, reservoirs are full, and there's still snow in the mountains, yet farmers are told they can't water their fields, it's clear that something is seriously wrong. Change is coming, and not a moment too soon.
- Ben Fuhriman
