The fight over water has spread to the East.
Three growers in Saginaw County, Mich. had to temporarily suspend irrigating their fields for more than a week in August while courts decided how to handle a controversy over water. This water rights issue pitted growers against residential homeowners who say their wells go dry when irrigation is taking place. The Saginaw County Department of Public Health had sought and gotten the temporary injunction after homeowners complained.
For any court to stop a crop from going to market is a dangerous precedent, according to Ben Kudwa, executive director of the Michigan Potato Industry Commission. “I think it’s a serious issue for all farmers,” said Kudwa.
Kudwa said this was the first known court case of its kind in Michigan and it flared after homeowners met this spring to voice concerns.
The farms in question are owned by Leonard Walther, Ray Kenny and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). A temporary injunction issued by Circuit Judge William Crane banning irrigation was lifted when a compromise was reached by County Attorney Peter Jensen and lawyers for the farmers. Jensen told the Saginaw News that he agreed to the deal because the county lacked evidence that the irrigation wells caused the depleted supply.
The Mormons, who run a welfare farm to grow food for charity, will restrict water use between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. and ban irrigation for 24 hours after a moderate rainfall while the Kenny farm won’t use its irrigation system. The Walthers, however, can return to using their system to water potatoes, one-third of their 1,000-acre operation.
Homeowners close to the growers’ operations in Lakefield and Fremont townships near Merrill complained that the deep irrigation systems depleted their wells and claimed at least 65 residential wells have lost water pressure since July 1. There has been no study to prove it occurred because of irrigation.
Michigan Representative Jim Howell and Senator Michael Goschka secured $100,000 for a hydrology study that is set to begin Oct. 1. The study by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will look at steps that can be taken because of the low water supply by looking at aquifers, according to a staff member in Howell’s office in Lansing.
Two other studies will take place by the Saginaw County Health Department and one by the Mormons. The department plans to draft an ordinance on reasonable use of groundwater after the studies are completed possibly early next year, according to Kevin Datte, environmental health services director for the health department.
The water issues in Saginaw County go back to 1994 and four or five different areas of the county are affected, Datte said. In the northwest corner of the county there are 12 irrigation wells in four townships. At least six townships in Saginaw County hope there will be no more irrigation wells. This year the townships of Lakefield, Marion, Jonesfield, Brant, Fremont and the village of Merrill have passed ordinances banning new irrigation wells.
Who has jurisdiction over groundwater is an issue that is a gray area in Michigan, said Kudwa, who questioned the legality of the irrigation bans.
Leonard Walther and his brothers, who grow potatoes, sugar beets and corn in 10 counties in Michigan, installed a 200-foot deep well under 160 acres in Saginaw County. Neighbors claim larger pumps for irrigation wells pull from smaller pumps leaving some residents without enough water to flush toilets or take care of other needs, according to Howell.
Walther, the only potato grower in his area, said he was happy with the results of the settlement, where he admitted no guilt. He speculates that the residential troubles stemmed from a contractor drilling shallow wells with pumps that can’t go deep enough. He said an estimated 50 homeowners paid $3,000-$4,000 each for these wells. The lower levels of the Great Lakes could also be related to the lower groundwater levels, according to Walther.
Walther said he agreed to limit use where his corn and sugar beets grow. He said there has been adequate rainfall for these crops this year but questioned whether that would be the case every year.
Kudwa and Walther said growers are easy targets for blame when homeowners see the irrigation units pumping. “I’m the closest farmer in that area who irrigates,” said Walther, although 20-30 miles to the west of the area there are many farmers who irrigate. He said homeowners blaming farmers for lower levels of water and loss of water pressure is “totally unrealistic.”
“They single out agriculture and that’s kind of the problem,” said Kudwa. He said that typically potato growers want to put on one-half inch of water per week. Kudwa said anyone who’s grown up in rural areas remember times when their wells went dry. “What did we do? We found another source of water,” he said.
Bill Hollingsworth, who lives near the Mormon farm, told the Saginaw News that every time the irrigation system is turned on he loses water. Another neighbor, Linda Good, said she had to haul water from their neighbor’s well because her well had run dry. She told the Saginaw News that she blames the nearby irrigation units because the dips coincide with their use.
The Saginaw Valley is surrounded by sandy ridges with heavy clay underneath them. Although the Saginaw metro area generally relies on Lake Huron for water, rural and outlying areas count on these underground formations or aquifers for water, typically through drilled wells. Different types of soils also help determine whether aquifers replenish themselves. More porous soils are able to replenish the aquifer when it rains or snow.
Some users and experts suspect that this water is running out and hopefully the studies will show what the water is doing underground, according to Howell.
