TODD DVORAK Associated Press writer | Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2007 12:00 am
BOISE, Idaho - Idaho's water director signed off Thursday on a last-minute plan designed to increase water flows to two trout farms, averting a threatened shutdown of hundreds of Magic Valley wells that supply water to farms, dairies and other businesses.
David Tuthill, director of the Department of Water Resources, approved a plan that pledges to recharge the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer with a total of 64,500 acre feet of water at the end of the growing season.
Ground water users sweetened their April offer with some 20,000 additional acre-feet of water in recent days.
Tuthill said last-minute additions were enough to avoid a Friday deadline he had set for curtailing 591 water rights across more than 16,600 acres in south-central Idaho.
If wells had been turned off, farmers with crops already in the ground, dairymen, food processors and industry said the losses could have easily topped $20 million.
"My assessment is that this (proposal) comes close enough to avoid curtailment this summer," Tuthill said.
A proposal submitted late last week by the Idaho Ground Water Appropriators pledged to recharge the Lake Erie-sized aquifer with 10,000 acre-feet of water, purchased at a cost of about $25 per acre foot from three separate irrigation districts in eastern Idaho. On Tuesday, the Idaho Dairymen's Association came up with an additional 9,500 acre-feet of water. Last April, the groundwater users had offered a plan to provide 45,000 acre-feet of water but that was deemed inadequate.
Officials of the groundwater users group estimate the cost for buying the 64,500 acre-feet at $1.6 million.
An acre foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre to a depth of one foot.
Tuthill had threatened to curtail groundwater users to meet the demand sought by two Hagerman-area rainbow trout farms - Blue Lakes Trout Farm and Clear Springs Foods - that have senior water rights.
In 2005, the fish farms petitioned the state to restrict groundwater pumping. They claimed increased pumping in recent years had drawn down the aquifer so much that it was reducing flows at the natural Thousand Springs that feed the Snake River and supply the cold, clean water essential to maintaining or increasing fish production.
After running the numbers through the department's computer model, Tuthill predicted the latest plan would supply virtually all the water to which the fish farms are entitled under their water right.
But the decision to cancel the curtailment threat was met with frustration and skepticism by the trout producers.
Gregory Kaslo, vice president of Blue Lakes Trout Farm, called the recharge plans insufficient, saying even if the water is transferred via canals and diverted into the aquifer near the Thousand Springs, there is no guarantee it will bolster flows to the fish farms.
"It's sort of smoke and mirrors," Kaslo told The Associated Press. "I believe that most folks I talked to had no faith the department would curtail. There is very little faith out there that senior water rights are taken seriously in the state. And that's unfortunate, because it affects the entire state."
The water dispute has been festering in Idaho for several years, complicated by legal cases, increased groundwater pumping, years of drought and low snowpack. Forecasts for another long, dry summer have compounded the problems and underscored the need to find a long-term solution.
Tuthill said Thursday the state does not intend to ignore the challenge. He scheduled a hearing Oct. 10 to begin sorting through the legal and technical issues surrounding groundwater pumping, its relationship to surface flows, curtailment and junior and senior rights.
The groundwater users group and the dairymen will buy water from several sources, including the Fremont-Madison Irrigation District, Mitigation Inc., and the Idaho Irrigation District.
The state declared IGWA's April aquifer recharge plan insufficient and sent out letters warning that it planned to curtail 771 water rights across more than 33,000 acres in May. That threat was challenged in court and a judge issued a temporary restraining order.
But a different judge later dismissed the case, clearing the way for Tuthill to mail a new set of curtailment letters, this time setting a July 6 deadline for curtailing water to 591 junior water rights holders spread across 16,600 acres north of the Snake River.
"This is great news for Magic Valley families facing financial ruin because of the curtailment order," said Tim Deeg, president of the groundwater users group. "Those with crops on the ground can look forward to a successful harvest and Magic Valley and Idaho economies no longer face immediate losses in the tens of millions of dollars."