Compact ignores historical success of irrigation project
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To the irrigators of the FIIP, I urge you to stop and think about what has been thrown at you the last seven months since June 2012. After 10 years of so-called negotiating, the water users agreement came up for a 30-day review, May 31-June 30, allowing a two-week comment period. In July, the FJBC intended to vote to pass the agreement. Many of you came to meetings designed to sway you to support it — meetings filled with threats of litigation if you didn’t agree and that you “might” lose. Some went to meetings explaining what the documents really say and what will happen if it passes. Many went to meetings and expressed knowledge of the last 10 to 60 years of the irrigation project history, only to have “experts” with a calculator or computer tell them they were wrong. Many missed nights of farm work and irrigation settings to attend meetings, only to go away feeling belittled by taxpayer-funded “negotiators.”
Water, seed, soil and cattle are all indispensable resources to grow food for the world; the last three can’t happen without adequate water. This agreement limits your quota. The project has for decades used what’s called “non-quota” water; it’s how you survive on a .75 quote. Irrigating in May or early June, say two irrigations — if we get rain in late May and June and the reservoirs are filled, your previous water charge against your quota was back to zero. You can then squeak by on a .75 quota. Remember the quotas written in stone in the compact are: Mission 1.03, Jocko 1.30, Little Bitterroot 1.10; the 1.40 figure is not guaranteed, and it’s before project loss and delivery. Check this out before you agree with anyone. Jocko has never had such a quota; they run off the river, and when the river gets to 250 cfs, reservoirs are open, providing three to four weeks of water, ending the irrigation for the year, sometimes in August.
Historically, water has been delivered on the duty system. Gravel and sandy soils take more irrigation than clay. Now that water will be gone. Single quota simply will not work. It was proven in the Dutton Report; however, the experts are refuting this. But I say to you who have irrigated all these years, who do you believe and trust? If you have historically been delivered extra duty water, the old-timers from the project knew what they were doing and why; I’ll trust them, not a computer.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about our O&M costs and why it’s not fair extra-duty and single-duty water users pay the same. I’ll take a shot at that. All districts pay the same $25/acre, plus administration fees. My very first O&M charge was $8.60 per acre; some of you can remember less. The biggest expense for the project is the Pablo pumps; whether one day or 31 days, it’s $92,000/month. I believe 39,000 acres, or 1/3 of the project, can benefit from the pumps, but we all pay for them. Highway 93 west from Pablo to Valley View and Round Butte benefits from the pumps. Irrigators in the Jocko have no quota, but some years they are done irrigating in early August. Dixon is dependent on Revais Creek, with as little as 3 cfs of water and 9 cfs of pumped water in July and August. Moeise gets a longer season; they benefit from water from Post Creek, as well as Crow Dam and the drainage to it. Those who have the extra-duty water tend to be on the east side of Highway 93 below the Pablo feeder, along the mountain, and the south edge of the valley also has gravel and sandy soil with some mixed soil lower in the valley. This extra water is needed to maintain a crop.
Look at the wisdom of the early framers of our project; we all pay the same for O&M, but the design and delivery of water to each division was years ahead of its time. It was fair and equitable. It worked on dry years and wet years. Promises made won’t pay the bank or fuel man when you don’t have equitable water to support this compact, but what is written in stone? How much? When does it come? What for? What are the priorities? We all need to think real hard before we give up something earned with our sweat and blood, and in reality, our whole life’s work. Once this is gone, it will never come back. All parties need to stop, restart, rethink and have time to study every page of this compact, and seven months is simply not enough time to make a decision that will affect the future of the land we all love forever.
(Editor’s note: Tim Orr is the Jocko supervisor for the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, a lifelong rancher and irrigator in St. Ignatius, and a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.)
