Volume 16 Issue 2 February

Water Conservation and Management in New Zealand and the United States

By Kris Polly

In our cover story this month, we interview Kelvin Weir, the chairman of the Maerewhenua District Water Resource Company (MDWRC). Active in irrigated agriculture in the region for several decades, he tells us about how practices have changed and how MDWRC is striving to make water use ever more efficient.

With an entitlement of 3.1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year, Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District (IID) cannot be overlooked. What it does has a major effect on the river as a whole, which is why its efforts to conserve water and engage in complex agreements to support urban water use are so significant. We speak with Water Department Manager Tina Shields about IID’s past efforts and what the future holds.

Next, we move up the West Coast to southern Oregon’s Rogue River Valley Irrigation District, which has been delivering water to farmers since the late 1800s. We speak with Manager Brian Hampson about operating under drought conditions, the district’s work to become more efficient and resilient, and its efforts to secure funding.

The East Dakota Water Development District works to protect water quality in eastern South Dakota’s Big Sioux River watershed, including by helping develop land-use ordinances that protect shallow aquifers; promoting best management practices among landowners; and engaging in projects, including riparian planting, to reduce loadings of sediment and bacteria into the Big Sioux River. Executive Director Jay Gilbertson tells us more.

The unusually direct relation between surface water and groundwater in Idaho’s Eastern Snake River Plain means that the area is particularly well suited to the conjunctive management of these two resources. We speak with Mathew Weaver, the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR), and Brian Patton, the deputy director of the IDWR and the executive manager of the Idaho Water Resource Board, to hear about progress the plain since a significant settlement agreement in 2015.

Next, we speak with Julia Stanford, the director of programs and communications for the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, which connects and supports the state’s groundwater conservation districts. Ms. Stanford tells us about the alliance’s activities and the Texas Groundwater Summit that is its premier annual event.

We close with a fascinating look at Frank Dimick’s nearly 60 years in the irrigation world. After many years at the Bureau of Reclamation, Mr. Dimick started a consulting business and was heavily involved in title transfer efforts; he has also been extensively involved in the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage.

Both in New Zealand and in the United States, growing demand on limited water supplies is requiring ever-more-meticulous management. Conserving water, securing funding for infrastructure upgrades, and coming to large-scale agreements are not easy tasks, but they are necessary. I hope you will be inspired by the accomplishments we cover in this month’s issue.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.