Bringing People Together to Solve Challenges

By Kris Polly

The Montana Water Center, one of 54 federally funded water resource research institutes across the nation, supports research and educational initiatives that address key water issues, such as soil health, drought management, water quality, irrigation efficiency, and managed aquifer recharge. In this month’s cover interview, we speak with Director Stephanie Ewing and Assistant Director Whitney Lonsdale about funding research into watershed-specific issues and about the center’s role in bringing together diverse water users— including farmers and ranchers, fly-fishing outfitters, landowners, and urban planners—to talk about how to solve the challenges posed by increasing water scarcity.

The Friant Water Authority facilitates the delivery of over 1 million acre-feet of water a year from Friant Dam to 32 California water agencies. Unfortunately, groundwater overdraft has caused ground subsidence severe enough to impede the functioning of its Friant-Kern Canal. Demonstrating that the American can-do spirit is alive and well, the water authority is executing the Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project, phase 1 of which included the construction of a parallel canal along one affected section. We hear more in our detailed and informative interview with Friant CEO Jason Phillips.

Then, we speak with Bert Bryan, the manager of the 100‑plus-year-old Walker River Irrigation District in western Nevada. As we hear from Mr. Bryan, the district’s service area is characterized by a patchwork of different types of water rights as well as by a complicated interplay of environmental flow requirements and agricultural uses. The district is also carrying out a variety of modernization and efficiency projects.

Next, we speak with John Thom and Neal Schlautman, respectively the vice president and the engineering manager of T‑L Irrigation Company, about the company’s new Edge Controller, an award-winning device that centralizes control functions at the end tower of a center pivot.

Dan Preissler is a Nebraska farmer who recently started using Sentinel Fertigation’s N‑Time solution. We interview him about his experience and the nitrogen-saving results he’s seen.

Munro is a Colorado-based manufacturer of pumps, pump controls, pumping stations, and related products that also runs a general industrial distributor. We interview Katie Powell, a third-generation member of this family-owned company who now serves as its president, about its high-quality, custom-built solutions.

We speak with Dr. Michele Reba, a research hydrologist and the lead scientist at the Agricultural Research Service’s Delta Water Management Research Unit, based in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She fills us in on the research unit’s work and its payoff for the major irrigated cotton, rice, and soybean production in the region.

Alice Parker and her family moved to the area of the Columbia Basin Project (CBP) in Washington State in 1965 and developed their farm out of the sagebrush and cheatgrass. In addition to being a farmer, Ms. Parker served as the secretary of the Columbia Basin Development League for nearly 20 years and on its board of directors for a further 10. Her in-depth knowledge of the CBP makes our interview with her particularly fascinating.

With research, new technologies, major construction projects, small-but-steady system modernization work, long-term sustainability efforts, and top-notch products, this nation’s irrigated agriculture is improving every day. Each agency, district, company, and research center has its own role to play in this constant improvement. We hope you enjoy reading.

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.