Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

Leaders of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services on November 29 marked the expansion of an innovative, cost-saving land management strategy with the signing of partnership agreements with eight Florida ranchers. Water managers are collaborating with landowners to achieve water storage, water quality and habitat improvement benefits north of Lake Okeechobee but at less cost than traditional government land acquisition programs.

DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. and SFWMD Executive Director Melissa Meekermet with landowners at the Dixie Cattle Ranch in Okeechobee County to finalize the new agreements that will store 4,800-acre feet of water on private lands and improve water quality in Lake Okeechobee, the coastal estuaries and the Everglades. The ranchlands — totaling 9,500 acres across three counties — have become part of the SFWMD’s Dispersed Water Management Program to store water on public, private and tribal lands. The program is an important new tool that is helping to improve water quality, protect water resources and conserve Florida’s habitats. At the same time, using working ranchlands to achieve environmental benefits also helps sustain jobs, keeps land on local tax rolls and avoids burdening taxpayers with new debt to buy title to the land. The effort parallels the water resource goals of Florida’s successful land acquisition programs without the higher cost of buying and managing land.

“Getting the water right is central to every aspect of Florida life and its future,” said DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr.

“Collaborating with property owners to store excess water helps advance the conservation and natural resource protection goals of highly successful environmental protection programs, without the high cost of land acquisition, the burden of ongoing debt payments and leaving landowners to do what they do best — manage the land and support our economy.”

Since the start of its Dispersed Water Management Program in 2005, the District has collaborated with a coalition of agencies, environmental organizations, ranchers and researchers to utilize approximately 229,000 acres of land for water storage, water quality improvement and habitat enhancement. In addition to employing regional public projects, the program encourages property owners to retain water on their land rather than drain it and to accept and detain regional runoff.

“The future of water storage north of Lake Okeechobee relies on innovative partnerships and marks a milestone in our collective efforts to preserve both the Northern Everglades and our working landscapes for future generations,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam. “This program is a progressive way of achieving our shared goals of environmental restoration and a healthy and sustainable agricultural economy.”

Based on data and experience gained from eight original pilot projects, the District in October doubled participation in the program with the approval of eight new contracts, spanning Okeechobee, Polk and Highlands counties. Together, projects on the newly enrolled lands will provide 4,800 acre-feet of regional storage and additional nutrient benefits. One of the pilot projects used to develop the Dispersed Water Management Program was shown in a single year to have removed 8.4 metric tons of phosphorus to improve water quality in the Lake Okeechobee Watershed. The District is investing $7million over 10 years for the latest contracts. A total of $46 million has been designated over the next five years to help further achieve program goals.

A bill introduced in the Idaho House on March 9 is aimed at substantially altering rules on how water can be leased in Idaho, especially between two private parties.

The statement of purpose for House Bill 241 says:

“The intent of this amendment is to create a more certain and predictable process for the leasing of water for hydropower purposes by clarifying the relationship between the private, two-party water leasing provisions of Idaho Code sections 42-108A and 42-108B, and the provisions of the water supply bank and rental pool statutes, Idaho Code sections 42-1761 through 42-1766, to facilitate the rental or leasing of water for hydroelectric generation purposes, which provides low-cost electricity to Idaho. A recent District Court proceeding involving a proposed lease of water for hydroelectric generation purposes raised questions as to the intent, scope, and applicability of these two dif ferent sets of statutes, and the relationship between them, with respect to such rentals or leases. The Court suggested that clarifying legislation might be an appropriate means for resolving the uncertainty or ambiguity on these points. Accordingly , this bill proposes amendments to section 42-108B that will authorize the Director of the Department of W ater Resources to ensure that proposed rentals or leases of water for hydroelectric generation purposes under section 42-108A and 42-108B will be evaluated by the Director under the same standards and requirements applicable to rentals out of the water supply bank and local rental pools, including but not limited to any applicable local rental pool procedures applicable to the rental of storage water.”

At month’s end, the bill still was in the House Resources & Conservation Committee, an indicator that its chances for passage before the legislature adjourned (probably sometime in mid-April) were not good.

Two Rivers Water Company has entered into a two year lease agreement with the Orlando Reservoir No. 2 Company LLC to supplement water for its farming operations in Pueblo County, Colorado.

The water lease completes the first step in a process to acquire the water rights which include 3,100 acre feet of additional storage and 19 cubic feet per second of direct flow. The water rights leased and to be acquired are “Reed Decrees” and among the most senior rights on the Huerfano River, in southern Colorado. The lease will ensure Two Rivers’ has the necessary water to expand its farming operations to 2,500 acres in the 2011 growing season.

John McKowen, CEO of Two Rivers Water Company, stated, “This is another step forward in our step by step process of re-building farming operations on the Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company ditch system. By repairing the ditch system and enhancing our water rights we can ensure we will receive the water necessary to plan and develop profitable farming operations.”

The New York Times has posted a cautionary note for anyone – in the United States as well as elsewhere – doubting the importance of regular availability to water: As a practical matter, water rights.

The subject in the town of Quillagua in Chile, an extremely dry place in the Atacama Desert, which in turn is one of the driest on earth.

“What the town did have was a river, feeding an oasis in the Atacama desert. But mining companies have polluted and bought up so much of the water, residents say, that for months each year the river is little more than a trickle — and an unusable one at that. Quillagua is among many small towns that are being swallowed up in the country’s intensifying water wars. Nowhere is the system for buying and selling water more permissive than here in Chile, experts say, where water rights are private property, not a public resource, and can be traded like commodities with little government oversight or safeguards for the environment. Private ownership is so concentrated in some areas that a single electricity company from Spain, Endesa, has bought up 80 percent of the water rights in a huge region in the south, causing an uproar. ”

The story may also serve as a warning about the potential inherent in a water market left unregulated.

The western states news blog New West on August 31 published a review of the subject of water leasing, which it suggested could be one avenue toward keeping more water in western streams.

From the story:

And although leasing has its share of critics, the results have been encouraging. MWP and MWT have negotiated about three dozen leases in basins on both sides of the Continental Divide, from the Clark Fork, Blackfoot, Bitterroot, and Flathead to the Madison, Missouri, and Yellowstone. Besides increasing in-stream flow and improving fisheries throughout the region, they also are developing a promising model for stream restoration, one that stresses cooperation over confrontation, capitalizing on the interests of traditional landowners rather treating them as an obstacle. “Putting water back into streams is a new discipline,” says Stan Bradshaw, staff attorney for MWP. “We’re feeling our way along.” What they’ve found, Bradshaw explains, is that “how water fits into the overall ecosystem is more complicated than it seems.” That’s largely because the “fit” depends as much on lifestyles and longstanding habits as it does on cubic feet per second, fish counts, and water temperature.

A lingering water shortage and record-low water levels in Lake Istokpoga, the fifth largest lake in the State of Florida, has forced the South Florida Water Management District to declare another water shortage emergency for the Upper Indian Prairie Water Use Basin.
An emergency order signed this week by SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle calls for an immediate termination of all water withdrawals directly from Lake Istokpoga or from any of the canals not separated from the lake by a structure. This order immediately affects four SFWMD water use permit holders and several dozen area residents, who depend on Lake Istokpoga for landscape irrigation. Drinking water supplies and water drawn from wells for irrigation are not affected by this order.
Since the early 1960s, water levels in Lake Istokpoga have been regulated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps’ regulation schedule prohibits water releases from Lake Istokpoga and canals connected to the lake when the lake’s water level declines below a critical threshold. At 38.54 feet above sea level as of this morning, the water level in Lake Istokpoga is dangerously low for this time of year and approximately 0.30 feet below this critical mark.
Earlier this year, as the severity of the regional drought increased, the District requested and received a temporary deviation to Lake Istokpoga’s regulation schedule to allow releases from the lake down to a minimum stage of 36.50 feet above sea level to meet downstream demands. Successful water shortage planning efforts and effective regional water conservation measures enabled the District to avoid using the deviation. A new request to the Corps now asks for a time extension to the earlier deviation; however, because the request is pending, users whose withdrawal points are directly connected to the lake must cease water withdrawals immediately.
Highlands County Code Enforcement staff will be dispatched to the area to identify potential violations until weather conditions change and the available water supply improves.
If the basin receives sufficient rainfall and Lake Istokpoga water levels rise above the critical lake stage, users will be allowed to make limited withdrawals, subject to Phase III water restrictions already in place in the area. Conversely, should stages in the lake or adjacent canals continue to decline, other permitted water users may be affected. The SFWMD will publish information about which canals may be used for water withdrawals on a weekly basis each Friday – or on a daily basis should canal levels continue to drop.
Lake Istokpoga covers a total of 27,692 acres, but averages only four to six feet in depth. Its basin covers 607 square miles (388,480 acres). Water levels in the lake are highly dependent on rainfall and tributary inflows. Additionally, this area does not have a large reliance on groundwater because of the low yields of the area’s aquifer and its poor water quality.

October 15 Contact: Missie Barletto Office: (863) 462-5260 Cellular: (863) 634-0774