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How the nation's driest state is using cash to free up water
CLIMATE
How the nation’s driest state is using cash to free up water
Nevada is testing out a pilot program that encourages farmers to retire their water rights in effort to reduce over-drafting of precious groundwater.
Crops in Diamond Valley near Eureka, Nev., on June 12. (Bridget Bennett for The Washington Post)
By Anna Phillips
July 19, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
EUREKA, Nev. — Denise Moyle was a no. Her sister Dusty was a no. Their father was against the idea, too. ... None of them wanted a part of Nevada’s first-ever proposal to buy farmers’ water rights in parts of the state where people are draining the aquifers. Nevada officials expected it would draw skepticism. In a state known for being the driest in the nation, selling your water has historically meant quitting agriculture. It meant letting your land go dry, inviting erosion, dust storms and invasive weeds. It meant being a bad neighbor.
“You start from a gut reaction: ‘No, I’m not selling my water,’” said Denise, 47. Raised with her two sisters on her parents’ alfalfa farm in central Nevada’s remote Diamond Valley, she grew up understanding that water was crucial. “We’ve been programmed our whole lives that the water is the only value the land has,” she said.
But Deanne Moyle-Hicks, the eldest Moyle daughter, thought differently. ... “Step back and look at it from a business perspective,” she told Denise. “What would you do with the land if you couldn’t farm it?”
As the only state in the Great Basin that doesn’t use Colorado River water for agriculture, Nevada’s farmers rely on groundwater wells. Yet many of the state’s aquifers are shrinking, threatening its cattle ranches and its cash crop, alfalfa hay, which helps feed California’s dairy cows. Groundwater is vanishing all over the country — the result of decades of excessive use and climate change-fueled drought. In some states facing severe groundwater decline, officials are beginning to penalize over-pumping or ordering farmers to stop irrigating because conservation alone won’t be enough.
{snip}
By Anna Phillips
Anna Phillips is a national reporter for the Washington Post, covering how climate change is transforming daily life — including Americans' homes, food and health. She previously covered environmental policy for the Los Angeles Times and was a courts and local government reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.
How the nation’s driest state is using cash to free up water
Nevada is testing out a pilot program that encourages farmers to retire their water rights in effort to reduce over-drafting of precious groundwater.
Crops in Diamond Valley near Eureka, Nev., on June 12. (Bridget Bennett for The Washington Post)
By Anna Phillips
July 19, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
EUREKA, Nev. — Denise Moyle was a no. Her sister Dusty was a no. Their father was against the idea, too. ... None of them wanted a part of Nevada’s first-ever proposal to buy farmers’ water rights in parts of the state where people are draining the aquifers. Nevada officials expected it would draw skepticism. In a state known for being the driest in the nation, selling your water has historically meant quitting agriculture. It meant letting your land go dry, inviting erosion, dust storms and invasive weeds. It meant being a bad neighbor.
“You start from a gut reaction: ‘No, I’m not selling my water,’” said Denise, 47. Raised with her two sisters on her parents’ alfalfa farm in central Nevada’s remote Diamond Valley, she grew up understanding that water was crucial. “We’ve been programmed our whole lives that the water is the only value the land has,” she said.
But Deanne Moyle-Hicks, the eldest Moyle daughter, thought differently. ... “Step back and look at it from a business perspective,” she told Denise. “What would you do with the land if you couldn’t farm it?”
As the only state in the Great Basin that doesn’t use Colorado River water for agriculture, Nevada’s farmers rely on groundwater wells. Yet many of the state’s aquifers are shrinking, threatening its cattle ranches and its cash crop, alfalfa hay, which helps feed California’s dairy cows. Groundwater is vanishing all over the country — the result of decades of excessive use and climate change-fueled drought. In some states facing severe groundwater decline, officials are beginning to penalize over-pumping or ordering farmers to stop irrigating because conservation alone won’t be enough.
{snip}
By Anna Phillips
Anna Phillips is a national reporter for the Washington Post, covering how climate change is transforming daily life — including Americans' homes, food and health. She previously covered environmental policy for the Los Angeles Times and was a courts and local government reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.