By Bill Schaefer; Capital Press POCATELLO, Idaho — A diverse group of 13 water users met Sept. 13 to review the 2015 agreement between groundwater and surface water users and its impact on the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. The group's job is to draft amendments to the agreement or a new management plan that will help restore the aquifer without harming senior or junior water rights holders. IDWR Director Gary Spackman tasked James Cefalo, the IDWR eastern regional manager, with organizing the advisory committee. In 2016, Spackman designated the aquifer as a Ground Water Management Area. A GWMA designates all or part of a groundwater basin that may be approaching conditions of a Critical Ground Water Area. Idaho aquifer Under a GWMA, applications for new water appropriations may be approved…
By Clark Corbin; Idaho Capital Sun The south fork of the Snake River runs for more than 60 miles across southeastern Idaho. (Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management) The Idaho Department of Water Resources won’t be shutting off the water for hundreds of groundwater users pumping off the Eastern Snake Plan Aquifer in Idaho at this point in the summer. Last week, Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Gary Spackman found that there was no water demand shortfall for surface water users based on mid-summer water supplies and crop demand, the department announced in a press release issued Thursday. As a result of Spackman’s decision, it will not be necessary to curtail, or shut off the water, for the junior groundwater users, according to the press release. That’s good news…
By Mia Maldonado; Idaho Capital Sun The U.S. Geological Survey announced it will soon begin measuring groundwater levels across southern Idaho, according to a Monday press release. Survey employees working with the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation will measure groundwater levels in more than 1,400 private and public wells in the eastern Snake River Plain between April 3-14. The region’s aquifer is the area’s primary source of drinking water and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland in the state aquaculture industry, according to the news release. The collected data will help water experts understand the status of the aquifer ahead of the irrigation season, and the IDWR will use the data to improve its computer model of the aquifer. Water technicians collect aquifer measurements…
Groundwater Awareness Week (GWAW) is taking place March 5-11 in 2023! An annual observance established in 1999 to highlight the responsible development, management, and use of groundwater, the event is also a platform to encourage yearly water well testing and well maintenance, and the promotion of policies impacting groundwater quality and supply. Groundwater advocates across the country also use GWAW to highlight local water issues in their communities.
By Rachel Fritts; EOS Groundwater makes up most of the world’s liquid fresh water and might play a bigger role in sustaining streams and plant life than previously thought. Credit: Dr. Andrew Fisher/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Geophysical Research Letters A large part of the world’s liquid freshwater supply comes from groundwater. These underground reservoirs of water—which are stored in soil and aquifers—feed streams, sustain agricultural lands, and provide drinking water to hundreds of millions of people. For that reason, researchers are keen to understand how quickly surface water replenishes, or “recharges,” groundwater stores. But measuring a vast, fluid, underground resource is easier said than done. In a new study, Berghuijs et al. found that recharge rates might double previous estimates. The research team produced an updated model of groundwater recharge using a recent global synthesis…
"A tale of nitrogen, sulfur, isotopes, and microbes in the Abbottsford-Sumas Aquifer" Presented by Anirban Chakraborty, Idaho State University Join us from anywhere on Zoom at: https://uidaho.zoom.us/j/88575032383
Locations: UI-Moscow @ CNR 14 UI-Boise @ Water Center 250 ISU-Pocatello @ Physical Sciences Room 232 or join us from anywhere on Zoom at: https://uidaho.zoom.us/j/88575032383
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…
By Margaret Carmel; BoiseDev The entrance of Avimor off of Highway 55. Photo: Margaret Carmel/BoiseDev Police, fire, and emergency medical services aren’t the only essentials a developer needs to sort out when building a subdivision in the Boise foothills. Avimor, a growing community spanning the Ada, Boise, and Gem county lines, hopes to build nearly 10,000 homes by its completion in the coming decades. Along with the necessary road improvements, businesses, a community center, and the homes themselves, developer Dan Richter also has to build a water system to serve the homes along Highway 55. Between the combination of wells, surface water rights on the property dating back over a century, and a boost from Suez, Richter says nearly the entire project will be served by water in the ground…
Moscow-Pullman Daily News The Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee is currently evaluating additional water sources for Latah and Whitman counties. Robin Nimmer, a senior hydrologist in the Water Resources Division at Alta Science and Engineering, spoke at the League of Women Voters of Moscow speaker forum Wednesday about how to ensure a lasting supply of water for the communities. "We've known about water level decline for a very long time," she said. "The wells aren't flowing anymore and we actually have data that shows us the water level is declining in our aquifer." Nimmer has recently been working with the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, which was formed in the 1980s, to evaluate alternative water sources for the region. The committee's mission since its start has been to plan for continued use…
