WHEATLAND – Time is moving quickly towards the irrigation season. Farmers have been preparing their fields for over a month, and there have been controlled burns of weeds and dried debris.
The NRCS (USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service) issues near-daily updates to the moisture content of snowpack and cumulative data of precipitation. Professional engineer for the Wheatland Irrigation District, Nathan Graves, combs the data daily to keep up with the changes. He also gives information to the WID board to use when making decisions on how much water will be available this year to irrigate crops and pastures.
Graves said there are so many factors that are weather-dependent, it is impossible to predict accurately how much water will be available for farmers this summer. However, as of last Friday, based on a median from the last 30 years, there is a 95% average amount of water in the snowpack which has yet to melt, and the reservoirs supplying the WID are at 35% capacity.
Graves said the key for this year’s water allotment will be dependent on how much spring rains there are, and if there are sustained high-temperature days. He emphasized, it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have some good spring rains.
Some years, the irrigation district begins to run water in the canals in May – including the one that runs through the town of Wheatland – and other times it starts in June.
“It all depends on the orders for water we get. Once we reach that “magic number” of orders, we turn on the water,” Graves said.

In preparation for the irrigation season, irrigators typically burn the corn shucks and weeds that have accumulated in the ditches and on the ditch banks. Anyone doing a control burn must call into dispatch their intent to burn (322-2140), and when they are done, they need to call to let dispatch know so it is clear when a firefighting crew needs to investigate reports of visible smoke.
Another preparation that prompted a discussion at the April 1 meeting of the county commissioners, is repairs of collapsed culverts under county roads that are part of the WID delivery system. Road and bridge supervisor Chris Bookout, who has been with the county for a year and a half, was in charge of arrangements to repair a collapse on Drake Road last fall, and this spring the county crews have worked on repairs on Bellis Road.
In answer to an inquiry by Bookout, commissioner Steve Shockley said it is the responsibility of the county to ensure the water can flow across (under) the county road, since the irrigation district’s system was in place before the county roads. Additionally, he said typically there have been repairs to at least one or two irrigation culverts each year.
Again, the discussion was brought up at the commissioners’ meeting of how things are going to be handled from the county’s perspective on irrigators who consistently “water the road” with the end guns of their pivot systems.
“Obviously there are times when something gets away from you. I can’t tell you how many times I set my end gun to stop at a certain point and it goes around once, then gets off the next time around,” Shockley said.
The commissioners and Bookout agreed there are accidents, but there are also some who chronically contribute excess water on roadways, causing damage to sections of paved or dirt roads which the county has to repair.
Commissioner Ian Jolovich said he would be willing to have a conversation with anyone who may be having issues with water running onto the roadways.
Sheriff David Russell confirmed sections of wet or muddy road on an otherwise dry road can contribute to a dangerous situation for motorists, who can lose proper traction when they encounter the change on the road surface.
Wheatland Irrigation District has the slogan “Striving to make every drop count” posted on their website (widirrigation.com). The site also informs their members of state law requiring water users to ensure water in their ditches and sprinklers does not “spray upon nor flow across any public road or highway.” Additionally, WID district rule 2.08 discourages the waste of irrigation water.
“If there is an issue with water spraying on the road, the irrigation district may turn off the water and contact the owner as an emergency measure to prevent wasting our collective water resources,” Graves said.