Water College
I am grateful for the opportunity I had last week to attend the Idaho Water College Legislative Tour. This event, put on by the Idaho Water Users Association, is intended to give leaders an opportunity to learn more about our water management throughout the state. Our water resources are under the care of some very knowledgeable, experienced, and capable hands. I was amazed, pleased, and even proud at how serious they take their role as managers of our water.
During the tour around various sites in Eastern Idaho, we visited the Great Feeder Canal near Heise. Roughly 1/3rd of the Snake River is diverted at this point into this feeder canal that then feeds water to 15 smaller canals that go all throughout the valley. The headgates at this point were redone in 2015 and are now automated. It’s phenomenal how technology is making us more efficient.
This project provides water for countless farms and crops. It wouldn’t be possible without the investment and cooperation from the state and the canal companies and water users. During all of the fighting that has been going on regarding our water, one thing I have learned is how capable the users are at solving their own problems, when they want to. There is so much that can be done that can make us more efficient.
We learned about the automated headgates, canal lining, and recharge sites. We visited one particular site out near Osgood. One way they do recharge is to simply dig a well and dump water down it. Instead of pumping water out, they pour water in. This recharge site is 320 feet deep. They are able to recharge 20 acre feet per day at this site. Unfortunately, they don’t recharge every day of the year, but when they are able, they are putting roughly 600 acre feet in recharge per month. To put that into perspective, it’s about 6.5 million gallons of water per day, or 195.5 million gallons per month. According to the EPA, the average person uses about 82 gallons of water per day. That means that each day this recharge site is providing the equivalent of the daily water usage of 79,000 people back into the aquifer. It’s just incredible how much water is flowing around our state every day. They screen out debris, and any bacteria in the water cannot survive underground. So the water is clean and able to do its thing under our feet.
Another form of recharge is digging giant pits and filling them full of water. This particular one was an exhausted gravel pit that was bought and cleaned up for water recharge. This pit is 48 feet deep and can hold 44 million gallons of water. It’s able to recharge about 3 times what the well can do, but it is much more expensive. I’ve wondered why we can’t use this technique in more places. I see gravel pits all over that are abandoned. I’m told it’s something that is being looked into. Recharge is an interesting thing—in some places it is very effective, in other places it is not. It might make sense to just go dig holes all over and pour water back into the aquifer, but it’s just not as simple as that.
On another day I participated in tours throughout the south central part of Idaho—Bellevue, Ketchum, and the Silver Creek area. I did not know that there is another aquafer in that region not connected to the ESPA (Easter Snake Plain Aquifer). And it is a completely different ecosystem and the aquifer functions very differently. Their aquifer does not hold as much water for as long with nearly 80% being lost on an annual basis. As we focus on our water problems in Eastern Idaho, I think we need to remember that everyone has their own water problems. One thing I liked learning about is how the Ketchum Waste Treatment plant is reusing their treated water for irrigation on golf courses and other places. Here’s two cups of water. One came from the tap, and one came from the treated water. Can you tell which is which?
I believe that we are making progress on taking better care of our resources and being better stewards of our land. I think the more we learn and the more we understand the water resources around us, the better off we’ll be. As we spend money on recharge and efficiencies in our system, I hope we will not forget about the need to better understand our aquifer. It’s hard to know how much water we really have when we are unable to properly monitor it. And it’s hard to know where we are making the best use of our recharge efforts, when we are not able to follow it underground. We need to continue to invest in our knowledge of this resource. I have committed to the people of my district that water will be a priority. That hasn’t changed.
