Water call on tap for 2013

House District 47 Representative Jeb Steward is sounding a warning to water users in the Upper North Platte Valley to plan ahead for water use next spring and summer.

Steward said all of the weather models and forecasts indicate a warmer, drier winter producing less than adequate flows into Pathfinder Reservoir, which could prompt a call for water from the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau).

To meet downstream demand, mostly from Nebraska, the Bureau maintains 1.1 million acre feet in Pathfinder Reservoir and looks at forecasted supply annually along with a 30-year average of inflows to assess whether it will meet that demand.

Based on a court-ordered settlement between Wyoming and Nebraska, 75 percent of the storage in Pathfinder goes to Nebraska and the remaining 25 percent remains with Wyoming users.

“If the forecasted supplies fall short of (1.1 million acre feet), it is an automatic call,” Steward said.

Thanks to previous wet years, the state started the 2012 irrigation season with a full reservoir system. A dry winter and summer drained that system while replacement flows dwindled to a trickle.

“Because of demand for water from downstream appropriators, we ended the season with less than 200,000 acre feet stored in Pathfinder,” Steward said. “There is just under 180,000 acre feet now – this year, in February, it was at 800,000 acre feet.”

Most of the water comes out of the mountains in April, May, June and July so it is not likely flows will increase between now and February when the call is placed.

The Bureau is only allowed to place the call for water for the months of February, March and April. The call, in the past, always ended May 1, but the Bureau has always maintained the right to extend the call beyond May 1.

“I think the Bureau could try to extend the call,” Steward said. “Because of drought conditions, they don’t have water to store.”

In 2006 or 2007, Steward said, the Wyoming State Attorney General issued an opinion that the state engineer should not honor a call from the Bureau after May 1.

“As a result of that opinion, I got part of a budget footnote, a half a million dollars socked away in the AG’s office to fight the Bureau to defend diversions in the upper basin after May 1 if the Bureau tries to request a call after that,” Steward said.

Steward advised water users to start irrigating earlier next year and to use storage reservoirs if they have them, so if the call comes and water is regulated, users will have some water to start with.

“Because of drought conditions last year, I anticipate more people to be irrigating early this year to get that water going knowing that it may be short lived – so anything they can get early is to their advantage,” Steward said. “If we are under a call and they can’t get water it will just exacerbate conditions.”

The Pathfinder water right dates to 1904 and any water right holder junior to 1904 would not be able to divert during a call. Individuals with water rights senior to 1904 would be able to divert, but they would only get a single appropriation, which amounts to one cubic foot per second of flow per 70 acres.

That, according to Steward, will not be enough.

“Without double appropriation, water users will be unable to adequately irrigate lands,” Steward said.

Historic data from the Bureau shows weather cycles in the state characterized by two or three wet years punctuated by longer, more persistent periods of drought conditions.

“We do live in a desert,” Steward said. “We need to remain diligent going forward.”