They may be afraid their water is going to be curtailed unless it is their own wells
It all comes from a river fed from a mountain watershed and reservoir. This ditch is the first one off the river and has top rights going back to the 1900s however since most of the land near this field has become housing developments, they have relinquished rights to others.
It is a good point that with the impending drought, water may be short by late August. They usually have all they need through September and the river gets low. The irrigation district has to always make sure the Confederated Tribes owned and managed fish hatchery has a supply during even the driest falls.
I have seen this ditch get down to about a 1/4th full during late August and all those with later claimed rights get cut off. Several have their own ponds that they keep full from the ditch until they are cut off. They pump from their ponds, so the ditch riders can monitor ditch usage. They have strict rules about tailwater and water conservation, so they can water into Sept.
Interesting that the small-time acreages, divisions of former larger places with top rights are allowed to pump directly from the ditch but they have rules about the size of the pump and the length of the suction pipe so when water gets low they are out of luck. Big-time users have massive sumps by the ditch that are gated and controlled by the ditch rider. Some of those sumps are large enough that after they are shut off from the ditch, they can still get in one final watering for a small hay field.
Yesterday's rain was a sigh of relief to the ranchers in this area, mainly because of the poor condition of their unirrigated pastures. In the past one rancher here had just irrigated hay fields and trucked their cattle to a leased range 100 miles south as soon as grass was sufficient. Then trucked them back here for winter. They had a cabin near the range and one of the family always stayed there until winter.