07/03/07 Reviewing migitation proposals

A water shut-off order is pending for this Friday and it could dry up as much as 16 thousand acres of farmland and cut off water for dairy farms in the Magic Valley. The Idaho Department of Water Resources has told the ag producers that they'll have to shut down unless something is worked out to satisfy two trout producers who have senior water rights. Idaho Dairymen's executive director Bob Nearabout says dairymen met last Friday and approved the mitigation proposal. NEARABOUT "Overall it was a pretty positive meeting. Of course the state of Idaho is cutting down new territory they've never gone down before so there are a lot of questions that even our attorney could say based on the best available information that he had as to what could or could not occur." That plan will be delivered to Water Resources Director Dave Tuthill today. He is now reviewing the groundwater pumpers mitigation proposal but it's not likely that we'll know the final outcome until Thursday. NEARABOUT "I think this year with Director Tuthill going forward and proceeding with a water call has been a good wake up call for everybody. This is really serious. It's not going to go by the say side. We really need to address these issues." Stay tuned we'll be following up with IDWR to see what action if any they'll take Friday. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott