A $15 million grant would help Pinal farmers save water and preserve their crops
Colorado River and the debate over water rights begins in Wyoming
Michael Klaren talks about ranching near Pinedale, Wyoming, near the headwaters of the Colorado River.
Mark Henle, The Republic
Irrigation districts in central Arizona could receive up to $15 million in federal grants to conserve water while maintaining agricultural land use.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture named Central Arizona and the Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage Districts as two of 18 selected recipients of the $400 million investment in the West.
The national Farm Service Agency, which provides disaster assistance, loans and funds for conservation programs, will work with the districts on individual agreements to be signed later this year.
Funding criteria are still being worked out, but the focus of the program will be on improving irrigation, changes in agricultural practices and cropping systems, and other water-saving strategies. FSA will work with districts to develop projects that meet growers’ conditions and determine how they contribute to water conservation.
“I think they realize that every district is unique and different and that different approaches may make sense in one area but not in another,” said Brian Yerges, general manager of the Maricopa Stanfield Irrigation District.
For example, producers could switch to more water-efficient crops and enter new markets, switch to drip irrigation, or reduce irrigation to a level that stresses plants but does not affect yields.
The program is “not a mandatory requirement in the sense that this is the only way to do it,” confirmed Gloria Montaño Greene, deputy assistant secretary of agriculture for agricultural production and conservation and former head of the FSA in Arizona.
“We’re trying to meet the districts where they are and get them to propose some changes.”
Surface water only
The funding is expected to result in savings of up to 50,000 acre-feet of water on 250,000 acres of irrigated production land. How much each county contributes will be determined in individual agreements.
The caveat is that the program focuses only on reducing surface water, which was almost completely lost in the Arizona irrigation districts selected for the program two years ago.
The decline in Lake Mead forced some of the “youngest” water users in the Colorado River basin to face water cuts. Under the drought contingency plan, large swathes of farmland in Pinal County were hit with harsh cuts in 2022 and lost all Central Arizona Project water allocations in 2023.
The Central Arizona and Maricopa Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage Districts, known as CAIDD and MSIDD, still have some surface water through agreements with Arizona Water Company and Freeport-McMoRan. The rest of the water comes from groundwater pumping.
This year, MSIDD is scheduled to receive 2,275 acre-feet of surface water and CAIDD 7,856 acre-feet, according to current delivery data from CAP. Yerges said that represents less than 3% of their total water use. CAIDD did not respond to a request for data.
That means the potential for water savings with the USDA program is small in central Arizona. But counties can’t make up for that by using more groundwater elsewhere, Montaño said. The math has to come down to water savings.
There are complementary programs that can help with groundwater conservation, she said, such as programs from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. These can help make water use more efficient and support groundwater recharge. They receive additional funding from climate-friendly grant programs and the Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action.
Central Arizona Priority Areas
The program specifically calls for keeping farmland in production. Districts cannot achieve water savings by taking farmland out of production.
“It’s not about reducing water use and leaving land fallow,” Montaño said. “It’s about reducing water use and growing, reducing water use and maintaining agriculture.”
This distinction is important because after the Colorado River was shut off and Pinal County switched to groundwater, farmers had to leave their land unplanted and there was not enough infrastructure to supply well water to all of the fields. MSIDD’s Yerges expects the irrigation district to shrink over time due to urbanization pressures and reduced water availability.
The irrigation districts have done everything they can to plan water supplies and keep agriculture in the community, which is “fundamental” to the region, Montaño said. “Economically, we need agriculture in Arizona.”
The agency’s Economic Research Service selected CAIDD and MSIDD for the program not only because of their magnitude of drought impacts, but also “because of their capabilities” and needs for efficient irrigation and sustainable agriculture.
Clara Migoya covers agriculture and water issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to [email protected].
