Click the link to read the article on the KUER website (David Condos). Here’s an excerpt:
September 10, 2024
“We will have less water. Forever,” Rice said. “We have to accept that and … it’s up to us to be more efficient.”
That’s why Rice applied for funding from Utah’s Agricultural Water Optimization Program — a big money push to help farmers and ranchers modernize their irrigation. With roughly three-fourths of the state’s water going to agriculture, the situation has put a bullseye on farming when it comes to stretching that H20. Utah is counting on the program — which covers half the cost of buying new, more efficient gear — to save more water for communities, rivers and reservoirs downstream.
As he stood next to a center pivot irrigation system the program helped pay for, Rice reached for one of the dozens of spray nozzles that dangle a few feet over the ground. Compared to the equipment it replaced, he said, the difference is night and day.
“If hundreds of farms can save millions of gallons of water, I mean, we can fix it. … And do I feel like we have a responsibility to do that? Yeah, hell yeah.” — [Andy Rice]
That’s the idea behind Utah’s optimization program. If state money lowers the financial barrier for farmers to upgrade, the water savings might add up to help Utah maximize the little moisture it has…
Rice is just one example of the state’s approved projects, 551 of them and counting, said Program Manager Hannah Freeze, since the program began in 2019. The Utah Legislature has allocated $276 million so far and $108 million has gone to approved projects. A majority of that money is flowing toward the Great Salt Lake — $23 million has been approved for 112 projects in Utah’s Colorado River Basin. It’s a good start, Freeze said, but a drop in the bucket compared to what it might take to significantly improve Utah’s water outlook.
“If we were going to make a real dent or reach the majority of the farmers that we have, it’s more like a $2 billion number.”
