2024 Irrigation Season
Farmer’s Union will end the irrigation season on October 8, 2024.
If you experience problems with your irrigation, please contact the Ditchriders directly. Their phone numbers are located on the Contact page.
PLEASE NOTE: The office does not schedule service calls or take water orders. You must contact the Ditchriders. They are often out on their rides, so if you get their voicemail please leave them a complete message and they WILL call you back.
General Policies
- Use of sterilants on canal banks is strictly prohibited.
- You must order your water on and off through the Ditchrider directly with a minimum of 24 hours notice. Water is not turned on or off over the weekend.
- If you are planning to buy or sell property which is served by Farmer’s Union, please notify the office for details on transferring water shares.
- Owners of livestock are responsible for damage done to any irrigation facility.
- Ditches (laterals) below Farmer’s Union points of delivery are private, and it is the responsibility of the users of private ditches to properly maintain them.
- Farmer’s Union Ditch Co. is not responsible for anything left in the easement along canals and drain ditches. Responsible parties may be billed for removal of anything impeding the use of an easement by the Company.
Schedule and Rates
Farmer’s Union Ditch Co. bills annually on January 31st. If you do not receive your invoice by the beginning of February please call the office. Payment is due in full by March 1st.
Farmer’s Union accepts checks, money orders and credit card payments through Square with a processing fee.
Assessments not paid when due are delinquent and accrue interest at the rate of 12% per annum until paid. Farmer’s Union Ditch Co. will file a lien against property whose accounts remain delinquent as of November of the year the assessment is due.
Ordering Water
Turn on and Turn Off Each year the Board determines the dates to initiate and to terminate water deliveries based on water supplies and weather conditions.
When does water turn on? You must order your water on and off through your Ditchrider directly with a minimum of 24 hours notice.
Ordering water properly is imperative to the day-to-day operations of the canal. If we don’t know you need water we won’t put it into the system for you. If you take water you haven’t ordered, you are taking someone else’s water.
Likewise, not ordering your water off can cause downstream flooding and is not efficient use of water. Do not allow your water to waste while being unused as this shortens the irrigation season for everyone. Best management practices observed by everyone will ensure a more abundant supply in the reservoirs and lengthen the irrigation season.
Please order your water on and off accurately through the Ditchrider directly. The Ditchrider’s contact information can be obtained on the Contact page.
Operation Company employees operate all headgates, turnouts and other control devices. The water user is not to tamper with these facilities or change the settings of any headgate or measuring device. Stockholders should contact Company personnel to assist with any water delivery problems.
Locks placed on all headgates, canals and laterals must remain locked.
Selling Property/Transferring Shares
In order to transfer Farmer’s Union shares to a new owner you will need the following:
- All assessments paid and up to date
- The original certificate to be filled out and signed on the back, transferring the shares to the buyer. If the seller is unable to locate the original certificate then please request an affidavit which the seller will need to complete and have notarized. The original certificate or affidavit can be mailed to P.O. Box 1474, Eagle, ID 83616.
- $300 transfer fee per new certificate issued
- $30 lost certificate fee if applicable
- Completed new shareholder information sheet so the new owner(s) can be set up correctly in our system
- A copy of the executed warranty deed
Once all of the above is received a new certificate will be issued to the buyer
Pressurized Subdivisions/Laterals
Farmer’s Union Ditch Company does not maintain the pressurized irrigation within subdivisions. While Farmer’s Union Ditch Company might actually provide the water to the pump station that pressurizes the water the HOA normally handles everything from the pump station into the subdivision. This includes maintenance of the system, billing, watering schedules, etc.
When you have a problem such as no water or too much water in your pressurized system you will need to contact the water manager for your Association.
Where several landowners share a headgate the principle of cooperative delivery also applies. It is impossible to deliver less than one-quarter c.f.s., so smaller users receive delivery together to ensure everyone gets their water. Subdivisions and laterals will often have a shared rotation schedule.
Water Rotation
Please note that Farmer’s Union Ditch Co. does not typically set water rotation schedules for water users in residential areas whether directly on the canal, in a lateral or in subdivisions. This is up to the water users themselves to organize. If you have questions on water rotation we advise you talk to your neighbors and/or homeowner’s association first. Your Ditchrider may know what the rotation schedule has typically been, but he does not generally set that schedule.
Ditch Maintenance
How to Maintain Your Private Ditch
In the spring the landowner should burn the grass and trash in their ditch. This will allow them to see any problems with the banks or bottom. It will also let the water flow unhindered by the dead grass. It should stop some of the problems of plugging of structures.
The next thing is to clean the ditch. The farmer would normally us a V Ditcher behind a tractor. A ditch shaped like a trapezoid is the best shape. If a V Ditcher is not available, a small track hoe or backhoe is your next best option. This will cut more of a square ditch, but this will work also.
Your ditch should be cleaned on both sides as well as the bottom. A qualified operator should be able to determine if more material should be taken from one or the other. Taking more material out of the ditch is to be avoided, as this will make future ditch cleans harder.
Responsibility Farmer’s Union Ditch Company’s responsibility stops at the headgate. The Company has NO responsibility for community ditches/laterals. The Company is not responsible for maintenance or for monitoring water delivery below their headgate.
The responsibility for maintenance of community ditches and laterals delivering water beyond the Canal Company delivery headgate rests with the users on the ditch or lateral.
Weeds Water users are responsible for weed control on their private ditches/laterals.
Flooding If property is being flooded and examination reveals that the flooding is caused by lack of maintenance of the water user’s conveyance system, the flow through the Canal Company delivery gate will be turned off and remain off until the problem is corrected.