They poo poo any study to determine if the increasing number of irrigation wells will have an effect on the aquifers in my state. Any plans to restrict water usage are immediately blocked by the Indiana Farm Bureau.
I have to wonder when I see the farmer across the road pumping 800 gpm during a driving rainstorm. Some crank them up even when there is a 100 percent chance of rain within hours. We see more and more government subsidized irrigation wells popping up and the state has no plans to monitor ground water levels.
Near me there is a field of corn without irrigation and one with. This year there doesn't seem to be any difference.
The manager of a trout rearing station north of me says he can tell when the big commercial farms start pumping.
Ask Esshup what happens to his pond and ground water level when the irrigation wells crank up.
That's a good point CB. Where I went to school in San Marcos, TX an outfit would give glass bottom boat tours, now the aquifer has dropped dropped and the business went away. On the flip side, the farms aren't farming in the So San Juaquin Valley in Cali. There's enough water in the Sacremento R. and a wonder of a canal system, the Friant Kern Canal, to transfer the water. The EPA is blocking the water for farms because of a non-native minnow, which numbers less than a 100 and could be preserved in a couple of 40 gal aquariums. The original intent of the endangered species act was to protect ONLY native species, but now that's out of control as inevitably the EPA will soon be.
My stance is that state concerns could and should be handled by the states. This is not the 1st nor the 21st environmental disaster event, involving a containment berm being overseen by the EPA. If the agency causes more problems than it solves, dismantle it, especially if it's federal, and incentivize the states to step up.
As to Fin'Fur's point, yes the Farm Bureau has a vested interest. What I read in the article is that farms ought to have equal respresentation when it comes to water use concerns, not delegated to a "lesser politically favored status."
Last edited by SoSauty; 08/22/1501:20 PM. Reason: ,
