Orbit

This was exciting news to wake up to this morning. Congratulations to the Orbit, Gardena GmbH and Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. teams for landing 6 of 9 “best of category” spots in the Popular Mechanics Magazine garden hose roundup! 👏 👏

Orbit is at it again. Exhibiting at the Do It Best & True Value show in booth #3985. Come see us for the most exciting offers in watering.

Gus and I have been talking. Actually, he’s been doing most of the talking and I’ve been doing most of the listening. He really knows his stuff. We’ve heard some debate recently about how alfalfa uses all of Utah’s water so we thought we’d do some rooting around (Gus’s speciality) in the Division of Water Resources website and here’s what we found. The natural environment, including forests, meadows and rangelands, accounts for 87% of Utah's total water consumption. The Great Salt Lake, its wetlands/riparian areas, and reservoir evaporation account for an additional 7%, and transfers to other states account for another 1% The remainder is available for human use. Municipal and industrial (M&I) and agricultural water use account for 4% of total water consumption. Of all human uses statewide, agriculture accounts for 83% and M&I for 17%. Most of Utah’s agriculture is in arid rural and frontier counties where alfalfa and triticale are among the most productive crops farmers can grow. In major population centers like the Jordan River Basin, M&I use accounts for 86% and agriculture for just 14%. As farmland is converted to houses to support Utah’s growing population, ag water use is decreasing. Groundwater is typically considered to be of higher quality than surface water because the soil and rock layers it passes through act as a natural filter. The further surface water is from its original source the lower quality it is. 82% of ag water is surface water and 18% groundwater. Most alfalfa in the Great Salt Lake river basins is grown with lower-quality surface water. 32% of M&I water is surface water and 68% groundwater. Natural and human depletions, including evaporation from the Great Salt Lake, tend to be greater in warmer and drier years. When the elevation (lake level) and surface area of the Great Salt Lake decreases, its evaporation rate also decreases, making it extremely unlikely that the lake could ever completely disappear. While keeping the Great Salt Lake elevation lower and salinity higher is a viable conservation strategy, it comes with tradeoffs to other parts of the lake’s ecosystem. Today only the North Arm is managed at saturation salinity (about 28%). The remaining 1% of Utah’s water, about 0.7 million acre-feet (for comparison Strawberry Reservoir has capacity of 1.1 million acre-feet), is developable for human consumption. But the politics surrounding it are highly contentious. So what we’ve learned is that alfalfa is indeed the largest component of human use, but the natural environment, including the Great Salt Lake and its wetland are by far the thirstiest consumers. Reducing human consumption can help the lake’s ecosystem, but it’s just part of the solution. We’ve also learned that ag and M&I users shouldn’t feel like they’re in competition, since the water quality and place of use for each are often distinct. We’re curious, what insights do you have about water? Best regards, Stuart and Gus #water

Happy Groundhog Day! Please come spend two minutes with Gus and me. The public owns all water in Utah. The Federal and State government manage it. The right to use water is called a "water right." It allows for the "diversion" of a quantity of water at a specific time and place for a specific purpose. The Utah constitution protects water rights. Obtaining and retaining a water right is predicated on being the first to apply for a diversion from a particular source (first in time and place) and then showing continuous beneficial use of it (use it or lose it). Although a water right has characteristics similar to real property, water is unique in that portions of an acre-foot can be used and reused as part of many different water rights. For instance, snow falls on King Peak's north flank, melts, grows alpine trees and meadows, flows into the Bear River, diverts to grow alfalfa, returns to the river, diverts to Bear Lake for electric power, returns to the river, diverts to quench the thirst of people and cattle, returns to the river, diverts to grow onions, returns to the river or recharges groundwater, diverts to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge or Compass Minerals, returns to Bear River Bay, and then recharges the Great Salt Lake. Each diversion above requires a water right. Before approving a water right application, the State Engineer confirms the water is not already appropriated and then, based on the type and timing of use and hydrology of the place of use, calculates the quantity of "depletion" and the quantity of "return flow" to the river or aquifer. This protects existing water right owners. The long-term plans for the Great Salt Lake river basins contemplate 3.0maf (about a trillion gallons) of annual streamflow and direct precipitation to maintain 4,198 feet elevation. But recent small negative variances in precipitation and large positive variances in evapotranspiration (weather-driven water depletion) have created substantial annual deficits to plan. Attribution of Great Salt Lake elevation decline since 2012 (the last year the lake was at 4,198 feet elevation) is: natural systems, 54%; Great Salt Lake south and north arms, 27%; Great Salt Lake wetlands, 8%; agriculture, 8%; and, municipal & industrial (M&I), 3%. Because of the interrelated nature of water rights, the most productive actions to increase the elevation of the Great Salt Lake are at the lake itself and immediately adjacent to it. Potential large-scale measures which could increase elevation include mixing the freshwater lens at Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay causeways, and improving the water efficiency of riparian zones. Federal, state and local government are the largest water right owners. Private water rights are declining due to farmland conversion. Given there are no new appropriations in the river basins, the public should have keen interest in preserving water rights associated with farmland. Fond regards, Gus & Stuart #water

Can you handle the truth? These are the alfalfa farms, the irrigation shop, the metal fabricator, the dairies, the ranches, and the town hall that put burgers on buns and milk in shakes. It’s cool that food is cheap so it doesn’t account for a huge percentage of GDP (5.5% in the U.S., 2.6% here in Utah 🤔). But that makes finances tricky for farmers. Exports help round out cashflow so farms don’t disappear. The irrigation deep percolation from this network of alfalfa farms forms a slow-moving return flow that makes its way back into the drainage and into the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Bear River Bay before entering the Great Salt Lake. Paying a farmer to fallow fields is a good soil health practice but it’s an inefficient way to fill the Great Salt Lake. Return flows depend on hydrological interconnectivity of subsoils to create continuous flow. A 50k acre-foot water right donation doesn’t mean an incremental 50k acre-feet are available to the lake. “That’s not how any of this works.” There are no large dams on the lower Bear. If we eliminated farms and sent springtime water straight to the Great Salt Lake, Utah would be exporting water vapor instead of cash crops. You don’t drink lower Bear, Weber or Jordan River water and probably never will. Using your residential sprinklers less doesn’t do much to help the Great Salt Lake, but it does reduce drawdown of our deeper aquifers, so use B-hyve to irrigate responsibly. The Great Salt Lake as it exists today is largely man-made. Farm diversions and return flows, reservoirs, duck clubs, Union Pacific causeway, Farmington Bay causeway, Turners dam and municipal stormwater management make possible a thriving year-round Great Salt Lake ecoystem. Put another way (thanks Aaron Sorkin, with a few liberties)… You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want [that alfalfa] -- and you need me on [that dam.] We use words like [“rights," "diversions," and "duties."] We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who [eats the cheeseburgers and drinks the milkshakes] that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a [bucket] and stand the post. Note… The image is the Bear River at the Idaho-Utah border. It needs to deliver 700k acre-feet of water per year for the Great Salt Lake to maintain 4,198-feet elevation. Under current climate conditions the upper basin can’t produce that. If we are successful in changing the way the world waters the likeliest outcome is that the Great Salt Lake’s long-term (20-year average) in the south arm will be 4,194 feet. Can you handle the truth? #water