20Jul 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Water use soaring

Idaho News
By Bill Buley; Coeur d'Alene-Post Falls Press A sprinkler sprays water on a Coeur d'Alene lawn on Monday. Bill Buley COEUR d'ALENE — In June, the city of Coeur d'Alene pumped 780.8 million gallons of water.  If that sounds like a lot, it is.  That was 350 million gallons more than the same month last year when the city pumped 430.8 million gallons. Terry Pickel, Coeur d'Alene water department director, attributes the soaring water use to hot and dry conditions and residents' efforts to keep lawns green by running sprinklers. July is shaping up much the same.  "I would certainly expect to see a significant July increase as temps are soaring," he wrote in an email to The Press on Monday. The city is considering a water conservation ordinance to…
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04May 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Rainstorms are moving into Boise. Will there be more flooding? Here’s what to expect

Idaho News
By Shaun Goodwin; Idaho Statesman Boiseans have been spoiled the past few days with temperatures in the 80s and no rain, but good things never last forever. Starting Thursday and continuing through Saturday afternoon, about half an inch of rain is expected to fall in the city, and high temperatures will drop to the mid-60s over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. “We’re going to be kind of unstable (Thursday) and we could be seeing some thunderstorms,” Chuck Redman, a meteorologist in Boise, told the Idaho Statesman. “And then the main low-pressure system itself, the main weather maker, is going to be coming over us on Friday.” Redman expects a consistent and dreary pattern for Boise, while the mountains north of the Treasure Valley will be subject to…
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18Apr 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Climatologists: El Nino coming, could be a strong one

Idaho News
By Don Jenkins; Capital Press Federal climatologists Thursday predicted the return of El Nino, a phenomenon associated with warm Northwest winters and low snowpacks. The odds favor a weak El Nino forming between May and July and gaining strength in the fall, according to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center. The center projected a 41% chance that a strong El Nino will prevail by the winter. It would be the first strong El Nino since 2014-15, a winter of historically low snowpacks in Oregon and Washington, and the first El Nino of any strength since 2018-19. El Nino's opposite, La Nina, has reigned the past three winters. Spring forecasts are shaky, but wind anomalies and a wave of warm water moving toward South America support the prediction that El…
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31Mar 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Idaho experiences ‘impressive’ water year

Idaho News
By Carol Ryan Duman; Capital Press After years of water supply shortages and drought, basins in southeastern Idaho have received well above normal precipitation this winter. Not only are all basins well above normal for precipitation and snow water equivalent, but recent snowfall has brought record to near-record snow depths as well, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reported in its March 1 Water Supply Outlook report. “With over a month to go in the snow accumulation season, there is plenty of time for more snow to fall in this already impressive water year,” NRCS hydrologists said. Since the last report, snowpack percentages compared to the 30-year median snowpack slightly increased in the Panhandle, Clearwater, Salmon Falls and Willow-Blackfoot-Portneuf basins and decreased in the rest of the state. “In other words,…
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15Feb 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Experts hopeful snowpack helps buck Idaho’s drought conditions

Idaho News
By Carolyn Komatsoulis; Idaho Press Mores Creek and the Robie Creek region is seen from the road above the canyon east of Boise on Feb. 9, 2022. The last two years have seen drier-than-normal springs. Jake King/Idaho Press Love was in the air on Tuesday, and so was snow, at least in Boise and the Treasure Valley overnight. It’s likely that the state could buck the trend of drier consecutive La Niña winters, something that hasn’t happened since the 1950s in the part of Idaho south of the Salmon River. But that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed. “We’re off to a nice snowy day today and we should have gotten some decent precip up in the mountains last night,” said David Hoekema, Idaho Department of Water Resources hydrologist. “We’re likely to…
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27Dec 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

About Facebook Kuna’s power, water, tax incentives, employees, roads — and urban renewal

Idaho News
By Margaret Carmel; BoiseDev Proposed data center for Meta Platforms Inc. in Kuna, Idaho. Via Meta Facebook’s parent company Meta announced this week it’s bringing a new data center to town and with it came a slew of questions. Two years after Governor Brad Little signed legislation giving a tax break for data centers, Meta announced to great fanfare its plans to bring a facility to Kuna and bring 1,200 jobs and water infrastructure with it. But, how will this project impact industrial growth east of Kuna? What will Meta’s promised water project look like? Here’s what we know (and don’t know) so far. Water, water, water There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Meta’s promise to “add more water than we consume” to Boise’s watershed. Aaron Scheff,…
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23Nov 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Cold temps promising for snowpack, but Idaho’s drought outlook for 2023 unclear

Idaho News
By Erin Banks Rusby; Idaho Press Snowpack at Bogus Basin in Boise, Idaho. The normal high temperature for Boise on Nov. 9 is 52 degrees. But this year on that day, the high was just in the 30s. Even in mid-November, Boise’s normal highs are in the 40s, said Troy Lindquist, a senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service. That said, the Treasure Valley’s recent cold weather in tandem with the snow that fell is good news for Idaho’s water supply, he said. “That’s nearly 20 degrees below normal, for Boise, so it’s definitely going to be chilly,” Lindquist said during a meeting earlier this month about the outlook for Idaho’s water supply over the next year. “The nice thing about this is we’ve got a fast start to our…
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07Sep 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Water alternatives presented to Moscow leaders

Idaho News
By Anthony Kuipers; Moscow-Pullman Daily News The Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee presented its report on alternative water sources to the Moscow City Council on Tuesday in an effort to inform city leaders about ways to slow the aquifer’s decline. PBAC hired Alta Science and Engineering Inc. as a consultant to analyze the four alternatives. The recommended alternative is to divert water from the South Fork of the Palouse River in Pullman eight months out of the year, and divert water from Moscow’s Paradise Creek four months out of the year. It was the option that scored the highest based on criteria that includes cost and reliability. During a July PBAC meeting, Alta’s water resources division manager Robin Nimmer said this option had the least expensive capital cost of $73 million…
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29Aug 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Spokane Riverkeeper urges conservation as water flows fall

Idaho News
By Kip Hall; The Spokesman Review Kayakers paddle slowly down the Little Spokane River where it flows along State Route 291 and near where it flows into the Spokane River in this July 2021 photo. River flows that year were among their lowest over the past five years, according to United States Geological Survey data, and flows this year are approaching those levels after the river was roaring from heavy snowmelt and rain earlier this spring. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW) The organization tasked with protecting the Spokane River is urging city residents to reduce their water use, including watering lawns and plants just twice per week, during the final weeks of summer as flows plunge to droughtlike levels. “We had all this water. We had this great snowpack,” said Jerry White…
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18Aug 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Exploding population boom in Idaho is affecting domestic water supply

Idaho News
By Anteia McCollum; Idaho Capital Sun Tourists and locals alike enjoy a beach along the shores of Coeur d’Alene Lake near the resort in Kootenai County. (Anteia Elswick/Idaho Capital Sun) As more people migrate to Idaho, counties like Ada and Kootenai are seeing the effects of the rising population on the areas’ already diminishing water sources. Whether water is coming from groundwater sources like aquifers or surface water sources like rivers and reservoirs, local officials say Idaho’s water is being used faster than it can be replenished. In 2015, Idaho had the highest water usage per person in the nation with an average of 184 gallons of water being used a day, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey. While 1.6% of Idaho’s water withdrawals were used for…
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