Irrigation Rights Dispute Bubbles Up at Hanford
A standoff between local landowners and the Hanford company over water delivery terms threatens to reach the courtroom.
Clarence Hanford returned Monday to his Seattle home. Mr. Hanford believes that the present managers of the old Hanford company are attempting to change the contract in the matter of service of water. Under the terms of the contract the water can be used at such times and in such quantities as he sees fit, so long as he does not exceed the allowance of 82 inches during the irrigation season from April 1st to November 1st, but the present management are insisting that he use the allowance in a continuous flow. Mr. Hanford intimated that the matter might get into the courts.
“Mr. Hanford intimated that the matter might get into the courts.”
Water rights and utility contract disputes are a perennial feature of life in the arid Columbia Basin. The tension here between private property owners and utility management over how water is metered and delivered continues to be a central conflict for regional agriculture.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.