New irrigation system is causing farmers’ grief
April 29, 2009
Valencia County farmers asked the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) at Monday night’s board meeting why they aren’t getting the water they need.
“The ditch is only running half full for two years now, and they promised we would have water today. Then they go and cancel,” said George Sichler, a 93-year-old farmer. “This is the kind of thing that’s going on and we need a little attention to it.”
At the Belen meeting, the MRGCD said the lack of water is the result of having no uniform schedule for the thousands of properties that need the water, as well as noncompliance with existing schedules by some property owners.
It’s also in part due to the implementation of the Decision Support System (DSS) in Valencia County for the first time this year. The DSS gathers data about water demand to help the district manage the amount of water available in each ditch.
“We don’t really receive water orders from our farmers,” said David Gensler, a MRGCD hydrologist who administers the DSS. “We kind of have to guess how much water any given ditch is going to need on a day.”
While the district has operated without the system in previous years, this year the system may be responsible for low water flow among county ditches, sometimes resulting in farmers not getting water at all or not getting the water pressure they need to push water across their land.
Because the system is so new to the county, the MRGCD doesn’t yet know what discrepancies exist between the data and on-the-ground circumstances. The district said it has been relying on estimates of water use when determining how much water to release into ditches.
“If you’re going to estimate, overestimate it,” said Board Chairman Gary D. Perry, who was concerned the staff who regulates water distribution wasn’t taking farmers’ concerns into account. “Make sure they have their water.”
Farmers told the board the lack of water is causing their crops to die, leading to financial hardship.
“We’re wondering why the ditches are half of what they normally are,” said Mike Silva, a former MRGCD ditch rider who farms in Tome. “We’re not getting all the water that we used to. It’s making it harder to irrigate.”
“I’ve been having trouble for three years already,” he added. “I planted twice, and I lost them both two years in a row. I just replanted some more now and I’m hoping I don’t lose that. We need the water.”
“We’re having a lot of trouble getting enough water to irrigate efficiently,” said MRGCD Board Member Janet Jarratt, who represents Valencia County and has a family farm. “My personal concern is that on-farm efficiencies are being sacrificed for district-wide efficiencies in looking at the diversions and not really looking at having enough water in the ditch or enough head to move that water across the farm.”
Jarratt recommended that the DSS be run out of the local divisions instead of the Albuquerque main office because of a disconnection between the main office and the actual farms.
“I’ve called on several occasions where they’ve said there’s plenty of water in the ditch. I’m standing on the ditch and there’s no water,” Mark Garcia, who farms in Tome and Casa Colorada, said of his experience with the main office.
“There’s a big difference between going out into the field sometimes and being in the field all the time,” Jarratt said.
She said the district doesn’t seem to be taking into account the overall climate, that New Mexico experienced a really dry winter and more water is needed now than in past years with wetter winters. Perry said the system must take into account crops and soils, because each requires a different amount of water.
Farmers said they have been out of water at times for three weeks to a month.
“I lost my crop two years in a row, but last year I got it going again,” said Ramon Vallejos, who grows grass and alfalfa. “They used to give me the water every 16 days last year. Now it’s been 23 days since I’ve had water.”
Another farmer, Lawrence Sanchez, was more frustrated, saying, “Waiting 23 days is a bunch of crap.”
“We’re tired of this stuff, of the water not being delivered when it should’ve been delivered,” he said.
While the board seemed sympathetic to the farmers’ concerns, a fissure was apparent between the board and the district’s administration, where the administration is operating without a full understanding of the actual needs farmers have.
“It’s going to be very important that we have some kind of system in hand that works,” Perry said to the DSS administrator. “But be sure and have some flexibility in there where you can listen to the farmers and their needs. They’re the ones out there making a living and they’re the ones that suffer when there’s not enough water.”
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