How can we improve water usage for farmers?
In Idaho we have a variety of climates, northern Idaho is full of trees and lately a lot of rain which has helped with the heat. Central and southern Idaho is classified as a more desert like climate.
I bring this up because in the news for the last few weeks I have been reading about how some farms in southern Idaho were being cut off for not following the water use plans put in place by the government.
This is an extremely hot issue in Idaho and it's hard to not feel sympathy for both sides of the problem. On one hand, how can we not feel sympathy for farmers who are trying to grow and maintain their crops? It's important to note the agriculture is huge in Idaho and accounts for almost 12.5% of our GDP. Limiting their water use is harming their crops and damaging the economy which hurts everyone in Idaho.
On the other hand, how can we not think about the environmental impacts. The governor put these rules in place because water usage is depleting the aquifer faster than it can refill and the East Snake River Plains aquifer is a source of water for millions of people in Idaho and if we fully deplete it Idaho's economy will be in ruins.
I ended up thinking about what kind of solutions could be put in place to fix this cycle of back and forth when it comes to water usage and water waste. I thought about how either we end up depleting the aquifer and damaging our economy or damaging our economy by not producing enough product to sustain our growth. I wondered if there was a middle ground that could be met that differed a bit from the current solution which is to follow a strict mitigation strategy or be cut off.
My idea was that we expand the current mitigation strategy to prioritize crop and economic growth for a certain period of time. The catch is that the economic gains we seen need to be used to promote research into water reuse strategies, aquifer management strategies, and water infrastructure improvement. My hope is that in doing this we are able to rebuild the aquifer over time after a brief period of depletion. The trick is to not go to the extreme end of having a free for all for the next 100 years until there is no water left, but rather have a period of 10-15 years were we allow farmers to pull extra from the aquifer for the purpose of increased crop supply.
Many limitations and checks would have to be put in place and I truly am not sure if this is the best strategy, it certainly isn't the only one, but it is a potential avenue that needs to be explored as the current process is not the most effective.
I hope that this idea sparks everyone to consider ideas of their own and opens up the discussion for a more permanent solution to come into place. I welcome you all to comment any ideas/questions you may have below as that was my goal for this post!
