![\"Hay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/VBWTS3OS55F5NHYYWLZLVF6E5M.jpg\")
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FILE – Hay farms are at the center of Harney County’s water crisis, Dec. 11, 2019. <\/p>\n
Emily Cureton \/ OPB<\/p>\n
The commission \u2013 a volunteer advisory board appointed by the governor \u2013 oversees the state\u2019s water resources department, which, for years, enabled excessive pumping for irrigated farming, mainly to grow hay to feed cattle. <\/p>\n
This designation will give the state more authority to reduce how much water irrigators can pump out of the aquifer. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a decision that will bring with it tough decisions and economic pain in an area whose economy largely depends on agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople feel huge economic anxiety about how this is all going to work,\u201d said Water Resources Commissioner Janet Neuman. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re in a really, really tough position. But we\u2019re trying to undo some mistakes of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Sometimes, you need a thumb on the scale.\u2019<\/p>\n
The adopted changes don\u2019t kick in until 2028. <\/p>\n
The changes<\/a> will require water use cutbacks by up to 70% in some parts of the basin over the next 30 years. Irrigators will have to install meters on their pivots and report how much water they use every year. The critical groundwater designation also means the state will no longer approve new groundwater rights in the basin. <\/p>\n An irrigation pivot operates in Harney County, Ore., on May 27, 2019. Farms here raise alfalfa.<\/p>\n Emily Cureton Cook \/ OPB<\/p>\n The adopted rules exempt the Burns Paiute Tribe and county municipalities from water curtailments. <\/p>\n The water resources department will also delay cutbacks to water use in three areas of the basin, Silver Creek, Lower Blitzen-Voltage and Silvie, to give irrigators a longer runway to come up with voluntary agreements \u2013meaning, people will be allowed a more flexible approach to cutting back water use as long as it aligns with the goals of the state. <\/p>\n This critical groundwater area designation, and the restrictions that will come with it, follows pushback from irrigators, ranchers and farmers who\u2019ve said the adopted rules will put families out of business. <\/p>\n They\u2019ve also argued that the proposed changes are too aggressive in some areas of the basin that currently are not experiencing excessive declines. <\/p>\n If fully implemented, the proposed rules could take a $41 million bite out of the local agriculture economy<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/RICZSCLUEVHDDN4XFJUYBBT5SE.jpg\")
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