Border wall fuels water fight

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Russell Johnson** (0:21)
It's gonna pump us dry. That's a problem that becomes an immediate disaster. When you've got livestock, you've got water, they can't wait.

**Chris Bentley** (0:28)
Everyone needs water, people, animals, farms, even President Trump's border wall.
It's Friday, July 17th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley. Today on the show, we check in on the drought-stricken West, where some ranchers are saving bathwater to keep their trees alive.

**Kirk Christiansen** (1:01)
It's pretty dire. My alfalfa production is nil. Another year like this is almost unsustainable.

**Chris Bentley** (1:08)
But that's not stopping the federal government from tapping New Mexico's aquifer to mix cement for Trump's border wall. More on that in a few minutes. But first, if you want to get a sense of just how dire the West's water situation is right now, a good place to go is Utah.
Utah's Commissioner of Natural Resources, Joel Ferry, told us his state is in a drought emergency.

**Joel Ferry** (1:33)
This year we saw the lowest snowpack on record that we've ever seen. You know, we're struggling with that. And so almost every system throughout the state of Utah is on, you know, like, mandatory reductions.

**Chris Bentley** (1:44)
That is certainly the case in Emory, Utah, where Mayor Jack Funk has asked the 521 people who live in town to conserve whatever they can.

**Jack Funk** (1:54)
Their lawns and trees, I told them they can keep them alive, that be smart, and everybody seems to be just above and beyond the call to just do their best. I see them hauling bathwater and stuff out to the trees and quick showers, you know, that type of thing.

**Chris Bentley** (2:13)
Emory is an agricultural community right in the middle of the state. But rancher Kirk Christiansen told Peter O'Dowd, it won't last long without water.

**Kirk Christiansen** (2:24)
The adjustments are really going to hit us this winter time.
My alfalfa production is nil. I usually do three crops of alfalfa. We got half of one crop.

**Peter O'Dowd** (2:37)
What's going on with the water? Do you have any?

**Kirk Christiansen** (2:41)
Well, not really. The ditch is running at 6% of normal.
Currently, I'm sharing water with my two sons, my son-in-law and my brother-in-law. So we've combined five ranches to run about an eighth of what we would normally run at any given time on one ranch.
So it's pretty dire. We're looking really hard. I think I've got enough hay located to get us through the winter. Fortunately, we did have a few spring rains that brought the grass on our winter ranges.
But those of us who don't have winter range are in a bad way, right?

**Peter O'Dowd** (3:25)
Yeah. I can hear a little one in the background there. I don't know if that one belongs to you or not.
Your grandson makes me wonder if the family's had some sleepless nights. This is your livelihood we're talking about.

**Kirk Christiansen** (3:40)
Needless to say, we have, yes. But you can only worry about things you can do something about. So our goal is to just make a game plan to move forward and get through it. Another year like this is almost unsustainable for our folks.
It's tough.

**Peter O'Dowd** (4:00)
Have you ever seen anything like this in your time ranching?

**Kirk Christiansen** (4:03)
The last big drought we had was in the early 2000s. When hay went up to $230 a ton, it's now at $250. So this one's pretty ugly. My average feed budget is more than quadruple.
It's going to be tight.

**Peter O'Dowd** (4:23)
Have you had to trim your herd back because of that, just to pinch pennies?

**Kirk Christiansen** (4:26)
We trimmed a little bit and we're planning on probably trimming some more unless we can make things work. That's a catch 22 because right now the cattle market's very high, which looks good for a cattle rancher in theory. But when you can't afford to feed the animal, it doesn't matter how high the price goes, you can't afford to feed the animal.

**Peter O'Dowd** (4:48)
You know, Kirk, we were hearing from the mayor there who said that folks in town are saving their bathwater to water their trees, that sort of thing. I imagine as you gather in church on a Sunday, you're all talking about this. I mean, how's it affected the community?

**Kirk Christiansen** (5:00)
Yeah, we're praying for rain each week, and each morning and each night, you know, we get on our knees and pray a lot. We have seen a few little storms, which have helped keep some of our trees alive. Nobody's lawn's alive. It looks pretty dire. All the grass is brown and crackled up, and waiting for the water to get warm. When you're in the other end of the house from the water heater, you store it and take it out and try to keep one tomato plant and a couple of trees alive.