After hearing an updated water supply forecast Wednesday, the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Board of Directors revised the 2021 irrigation season Annual Allocation, setting both the Truckee and the Carson Divisions at a 70% water year.
Chad Blanchard, Federal Water Master provided an update on the current water supply in the upstream reservoirs, saying because storage is low, all the demand is put on Tahoe. Additionally, soil moisture and snowpack are low as well, all combining to severely compromise a full water year for local farmers.
“We could all get our swathers out, it’ll rain then,” said one board member, good-naturedly, in light of the serious nature of the conversation.
Kelly Herwick, Watermaster at TCID, said the target is still moving. “If the water was all here and we just had a pool, we could say, we are completely done, this is what the numbers are. But we’re still technically waiting on water that hasn’t arrived yet, we are still trending on the dry side,” he said.
Lester deBraga, board member said, “We should set the allocation now and leave it” with the possibility of maybe extending the season if for some reason there is some water at the end of the season. “People are going to go out and farm now, I don’t think we should look at lowering it after this point, people have already made their plans. Dropping it really hurts, but if it goes up, we can extend the season – we’ll know that by August.”
TCID Board President Eric Olsen said this action basically cuts “tens of millions of dollars from Fallon.” When water goes out of the valley it does not come back in so giving the most realistic number possible serves the community best. “All the board members know this if we were to look at someone and tell them we are going to cut their salary by 30% they would scream and jump up and down. Sometimes when we sit in this chair, we forget that that’s what we’re doing to this valley.”
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