Wells went dry not because the canals were not filled but because ag refused to downsize and instead turned to groundwater and extracted on average 3 acre feet per acre of land. There is only one solution to the fact that water demand is greater than water supply in many/most years and that is to reduce demand. the only way to do that is to reduce the amount of land under irrigation but the big growers have resisted that so that they have maximum land to lease and the lease price is kept low. The small ag producers must prevail on the big powerful growers and KWUA to reduce irrigated acres basin-wide by purchase and retirement of water rights from willing sellers.
Wells went dry not because the canals were not filled but because ag refused to downsize and instead turned to groundwater and extracted on average 3 acre feet per acre of land. There is only one solution to the fact that water demand is greater than water supply in many/most years and that is to reduce demand. the only way to do that is to reduce the amount of land under irrigation but the big growers have resisted that so that they have maximum land to lease and the lease price is kept low. The small ag producers must prevail on the big powerful growers and KWUA to reduce irrigated acres basin-wide by purchase and retirement of water rights from willing sellers.