Will Eastern Idaho Get More Irrigation Water?

Idaho water managers are looking at new ways to bolster water supplies after another hot, dry summer.

The Idaho Water Resource Board toured the Teton Dam site last week as a new Bureau of Reclamation study gets underway on additional surface-water storage in the Upper Snake River Basin. Rebuilding Teton Dam is one option being considered, along with raising existing dams or developing other storage projects. Officials said the study will focus heavily on future water demand and how to meet it.

“We’ll be looking at the whole system in the Upper Snake,” said Michael Hilliard with Reclamation. "The study will be heavy on water modeling to evaluate future water demand and ways to meet that demand.”

The Water Resource Board also approved nearly $14.5 million for two aquifer-recharge projects near Shelley and in the Bingham Groundwater District. Together, the projects could add more than 150 cubic feet per second of recharge capacity to the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer when water is available. As of early August, the Upper Snake reservoirs were just 31% full.

The board also approved expanded cloud seeding efforts, including a second aircraft in the Upper Snake region. Board officials directed that an emphasis should be placed on cloud seeding around the Bear Lake area to benefit water storage in the Bear River Basin. IWRB members said they are hoping to do everything possible with the cloud seeding program to help refill Upper Snake reservoirs after the hot and dry summer of 2026,

“I’m expecting that we’ll be out of storage by the end of August,” said James Cefalo, IDWR Eastern Regional Manager.

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