Several Idaho Water Projects Receive Funding

This week, the Idaho Water Resource Board approved over $30 million in new funding for key water initiatives aimed at protecting the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, including:

15 Groundwater to Surface Water Conversion Grants at a cost of $18.6 million in the second round of funding for those projects, which will reduce groundwater withdrawals from the ESPA. See spreadsheet on page three for the entities that received funding.
Approximately $9.1 million in additional funds for the Ridenbaugh Canal Diversion Modernization Project for the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District on the Boise River and $1.5 million for a design-engineering study to repair the Milner Dam emergency spillway. Both of those projects have been added to the Board’s high-priority Regional Water Sustainability Projects list.
A three-year water quality study on the impact of IWRB recharge activities on the ESPA, to be performed by the U.S. Geological Survey, at a cost of $311,900. In addition, IWRB staff have created a new web portal that provides detailed public information about water quality monitoring reports related to the ESPA recharge sites. Go here to access that information.
Moving forward with a request to begin an Upper Snake River Basin WaterSmart Study, partnering with the Bureau of Reclamation, to evaluate the potential for adding waterstorage capacity to existing Upper Snake River reservoirs and detail future water demand in the region. The Board will write a letter to Reclamation indicating their interest in partnering on the study to kick off the process. Officials with the Minidoka Irrigation District testified before the board, indicating their strong support for the study along with more than 15 letters of support from water users and conservation groups.

In addition, during the meeting, hydrologists reported no change in aquifer storage over the past year, but a net gain of half a million acre-feet over the last decade, thanks to recharge and conservation efforts.

The Board also toured a $26 million canal lining project by Twin Falls Canal Company, expected to save up to 68,000 acre-feet of water annually.

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