• Nevada allocates $25 million for groundwater retirement.
• Walker Basin Conservancy leads efforts to reduce water use by farmers.

September 9, 2024 — Wyoming Public Radio reports that in Nevada’s Walker Basin, the overuse of groundwater is threatening future crops and causing rivers and streams to dry up. To address this, the Walker Basin Conservancy is using state funds to pay farmers to cut back on their water use. Recently, they paid a local producer to retire 500 acre-feet of groundwater—enough to fill around 250 Olympic-size swimming pools.

The program, which is funded through federal pandemic relief, has generated significant interest among farmers and ranchers, surpassing the available funds. Many are seeking ways to reduce water usage or transition to other industries. Nevada’s initiative is expected to retire over 15,000 acre-feet of groundwater in total, helping to stabilize the region’s water resources for agriculture and municipal needs.

Wyoming Public Radio notes that a similar effort is underway in Colorado, where a groundwater retirement program in the Upper Rio Grande Basin is offering farmers up to $30 million in compensation. Interest in both states shows the growing recognition of the need for sustainable water management in the face of changing climate patterns.

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Image:  Irrigating an alfalfa field in Yerington, Nevada, by Kelapstick, June 2008.  Licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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