BUHL, Idaho — Water is what put the "magic" in the Magic Valley. Just a stone's throw from the agricultural community of Clover, the desert takes over, stretching south through Nevada.
Governor Brad Little visited the Magic Valley Monday to highlight recent improvements that put more water on crops and reduce how much is lost through evaporation and seepage.
"As I've stated before we have a finite supply of water, and everyone must do their part," Little said.
South of Buhl, the Clover Irrigation Tract has about 65 shareholders farming 4,500 acres. Over the last several years, it's converted a hundred-year-old system of ditches into a modernized, pressurized system of pipelines.
"This modernizes literally century-old infrastructure that we needed to update so that we can be more efficient with our finite water supply that we have in our state of Idaho," Little said.
Tom Garrison, whose wife's grandfather tore out the sagebrush to farm this land, says the new irrigation updates make a major difference.
"It saves a ton of water," Garrison said. "They measure right down to the millimeter. It's tight."
Governor Little used Clover's updates as an example of what will follow with the passage of House Bill 445, which makes $30 million available for projects starting July 1.
Under the agreement reached last year, groundwater users will monitor how much water they pump out of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, while surface water users will make infrastructure improvements to increase efficiency and reduce water loss through evaporation and seepage.
"This is part of a half-billion dollars of water projects that we've put in over the years, both water quality and water quantity," Little said.
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