ABERDEEN, Idaho — Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co. General Manager Steve Howser said a water outlook that took a dramatic turn for the worse this summer has compelled him to shut off his system about three weeks earlier than he originally anticipated.

Howser, who closed his headgates on Sept. 12, said his board members and shareholders opted during a recent meeting to prolong deliveries for as long as possible, rather than holding back some water until October to wet fields to more easily harvest sugar beets.

The canal, which serves 63,000 irrigated acres in southeast Idaho, has been especially hard hit by a summer drought, which is forcing water managers throughout the region to make tough choices. Though the water supply seemed sufficient in April, following a near-average winter, Howser said demand for canal water was greater this season than it’s been in nearly three decades.

“In 18 years I’ve never been more than three days off when I make my prediction on how long my storage will last at the beginning of the season. This year, I was more than three weeks off,” Howser said.

Howser explained “charging the system” to deliver water during beet harvest wastes about a five-day supply of water. He and his growers are banking on filling the system during general beet harvest with natural flows, as other companies shut off for the season and Snake River levels rise. Otherwise, beet tips break off when growers dig them from dry ground, causing a 25 to 30 percent yield reduction.

“I’m not making my shareholders any promises,” Howser said, adding natural flows have returned by Oct. 5 in similar “analogue” years.

Howser said about 1,200 acres that had been well irrigated switched back to canal water this year, and there were more water-intensive crops on canal water, as growers sought to conserve groundwater under terms of the Surface Water Coalition water call settlement. He said there were also several days above 90 degrees during summer, and the snowpack melted in a way that minimized storage capture. His company will end the season without a drop of carryover water in the reservoirs.

Amalgamated Sugar growers say the company is prioritizing early beet harvests in the Aberdeen area and will open a piling station there earlier than planned. Some local growers, such as Doug Ruff, are simply harvesting beets on the canal first, instead of well-irrigated beet fields.

“There are a lot of fields getting shuffled around,” Ruff said.

Some potato growers have been forced to expedite harvests to get all of their crops on the canal dug before moisture evaporates.

Lyle Swank, watermaster for the Upper Snake district, projects reservoir carryover will be under 20 percent when the irrigation season ends, and it will take 120 to 130 percent of normal winter snowpack to refill the system. Swank said the natural flows in the Snake River are also approaching record low levels. Some small canals and Harrison Canal, north of Idaho Falls, are also running out of water, he said.

“It’s certainly become a drought year with the lack of precipitation through the summer,” Swank said. “June, July and August, according to the Idaho Falls airport, are the driest of those three months on record.”

Ron Abramovich, water supply specialist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the long-term weather pattern favors a mild La Nina, based on oceanic conditions. Coming out of an El Nino pattern, Abramovich said the ocean has a lot of energy to expend, which contributes to average or better winter moisture 70 percent of the time.