Idaho
Following curtailment fight, Idaho water users seek long-term solution • Idaho Capital Sun
![Following curtailment fight, Idaho water users seek long-term solution • Idaho Capital Sun Following curtailment fight, Idaho water users seek long-term solution • Idaho Capital Sun](https://idahocapitalsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/South-Fork-Snake-River-BLM-photo-1024x683.jpg)
With the issue temporarily resolved for the year, Idaho water users continue to negotiate toward longer term water solutions that farmers hope will avoid shutting the water off during growing seasons.
The issue came to a head on May 30 when the Idaho Department of Water resources issued a curtailment order requiring the holders of 6,400 junior groundwater rights to curtail, or shut off, their water, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
Ultimately, the curtailment order lasted about three weeks until water users reached an agreement for the 2024 irrigation season that the Idaho Department of Water Resources announced June 20.
The Idaho Department of Water Resources announced it paused enforcing the curtailment order on June 13 after it became obvious the two sides were working toward a settlement agreement.
While the agreement resolves the issue for this year, Gov. Brad Little has asked water users to come up with longer term solutions in the coming weeks.
Little issued an executive order on June 26 that outlines two new deadlines:
- By Sept. 1, the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Council has to submit a new groundwater management plan to be submitted to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
- By Oct. 1, the surface water user and the groundwater users have to meet and establish an improved mitigation plan.
“Several negotiation meetings have taken place over the summer, and I’m confident that farmers will create the solutions that will avoid future water shortages no matter where you farm,” Little wrote in an opinion piece released Wednesday.
Little stressed that he would not mandate a solution.
“Because the only solution that is acceptable to me is one that is crafted by farmers,” Little wrote. “If we don’t do this together, then the EPA or the courts (or worst, Congress!) will determine our water destiny.”
Idaho’s lieutenant governor is helping facilitate water talks
Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, is helping facilitate a series of stakeholder meetings between surface water managers and groundwater managers. The two sides met Aug. 7 in Pocatello. Although they did not reach a long-term agreement at that meeting, Bedke said he is encouraged.
“We made substantial progress today,” Bedke said in an Aug. 7 phone interview. “In everyone I think there has been a decided shift in the thinking a little bit, this acknowledgement that we are all in this together and that we have the tools at our disposal to fix this and never have a repeat of what happened this spring.”
Bedke said the state’s May 30 curtailment order “was not our finest hour.”
“That’s certainly my commitment,” Bedke said. “I will not be a part of anything that puts one side of the state against the other. This is all Idaho. We are all in it together and think we have to end up having something we can work with.”
“Having said that, not everybody is going to get everything they want (in a new deal), but they will get everything they need,” Bedke added. “That is certainly my commitment.”
T.J. Budge, general counsel for the Idaho Ground Water Association, said he hopes for a new deal that protects the water for senior water rights holders and removes uncertainty and anxiety for junior groundwater rights holders. He also hopes the state can stabilize the aquifer for future longevity.
Drought in the West has cost hydropower industry billions in losses in two decades, analysis finds
“At a high level, we are in a place where the water users are in negotiations to try to develop a groundwater management plan that both sides can agree to and can provide a path forward to maintaining the aquifer and keeping farmland in production,” Budge said in a phone interview.
On Aug. 8, Idaho Department of Water Resources hydrologists reported that water levels in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer increased by 800,000 acre feet in the last year, according to a news release issued by the department. Despite the recent gain, the aquifer has been dwindling for decades. Since 1952, the storage capacity of the aquifer is down by more than 14 million acre feet of water, according to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
Acre feet is a unit of volume used to indicate the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land one foot deep.
“Idaho is facing a water shortage underground,” Little wrote Aug. 14.
“Since 1952, we have lost the equivalent of five trillion gallons of water – enough for the domestic use for the total population of Idaho for the next 75 years,” Little added.
Budge wants to avoid water curtailment during growing seasons, when farmers need to water crops.
“What we learned is you have to curtail a lot of farmland to get a comparatively small benefit in terms of water coming out of the springs at American Falls,” Budge said. “… We think there are much more cost effective ways that don’t involve drying up hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.”
“In-season curtailment of water for growing crops is problematic, and economically and socially devastating for the state,” Budge added.
Budge said one of the topics the two sides are still negotiating over is how to mitigate the senior water rights holders when there isn’t enough water to go around.
How do water rights work in Idaho?
Water issues in Idaho are governed by the doctrine of prior appropriation, which means “first in time, first in right.” In other words, the older senior water rights have priority over the more recent junior water rights when there is not enough water to go around.
The junior water rights holders have a mitigation plan that identifies how the junior water rights holders will prevent or compensate the senior water rights holders for water shortages.
This year, the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources said six groundwater districts were not compliance with mitigation plans and issued a May 30 curtailment order that called for 6,400 junior water rights holders who pump of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer to shut off their water due to a predicted water shortage for senior water rights holders.
After three weeks, the two sides reached a settlement agreement that protected all members of groundwater districts from curtailment for the rest of this year’s irrigation season, the Idaho Department of Water Resources announced June 20.
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Idaho
Obituary for Lyle Jay Cottle at Eckersell Funeral Home
Idaho
There will be an indoor farmers market this winter in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News
![There will be an indoor farmers market this winter in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News There will be an indoor farmers market this winter in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.eastidahonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/winter-market-last-year.jpg)
IDAHO FALLS — A popular local outdoor farmers market will now be going year-round after announcing there will be an indoor market.
The Idaho Falls Farmers Market will be having a “Winter Market” during the months of November to April.
“Last year, I kind of came up with the idea, and we actually did a winter/Christmas market in mid-December. That was kind of a trial and it was very well attended, very popular,” said Cort Pincock, president of the Idaho Falls Farmers Market. “So we decided this year that we wanted to do more of a monthly market throughout the off-season.”
The Idaho Falls Farmers Market, which is on Memorial Drive by the Snake River and typically runs from May to October, has about 100 to 125 vendors weekly.
The Winter Market will be located somewhere warm rather than outside. It will be at the Snake River Event Center/Shilo Inn at 780 Lindsay Boulevard.
It will be once a month on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Check out the poster below for details.
Pincock said they hope to have about 75 vendors at the event space. There will also be food trucks outside.
He said it will be a little bit different from the summer months but there will still be plenty of options.
“In the middle of the winter, we are not going to have tomatoes and the fresh fruits and veggies like we do in the summer of the Idaho Falls Farmers Market, but we are going to have the amazing artisans and the food, and a lot of the agriculture vendors. Many of them will still be there with meat, cheese, and bread,” he said.
Pincock told EastIdahoNews.com he is looking forward to the fun atmosphere where people can bring their families and enjoy time together, especially since it is a free event during the winter months.
He is encouraging people to come and support local.
“Our goal is to help small businesses locally, and we are a nonprofit organization, so coming out and supporting our events, you are really supporting local small businesses,” he said.
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Idaho
Massive multiyear widening project begins this week on I-15 – East Idaho News
![Massive multiyear widening project begins this week on I-15 – East Idaho News Massive multiyear widening project begins this week on I-15 – East Idaho News](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.eastidahonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/unnamed-11.jpg)
The following is a news release and photo from the Idaho Transportation Department.
POCATELLO – The Idaho Transportation Department is beginning construction to widen Interstate 15 to three lanes in each direction between the Northgate and Fort Hall interchanges to accommodate projected increases in traffic volumes. This leading Idaho multi-year project includes widening I-15, constructing a median barrier to separate opposing lanes of traffic and reconstructing bridge structures, including overpasses and underpasses, to accommodate the additional lanes.
Motorists can expect to see traffic control devices in the project area as early as Monday morning. Work has been phased to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction during the day for most of the project. However, motorists should be aware some nighttime work will require single-lane closures.
This fall, crews will shift traffic to create the space they need to build a median wall, reconstruct structures, and demolish and reconstruct the existing northbound lanes of the interstate.
During construction, motorists should expect:
- Nighttime work begins the week of August 19 and will continue for the first couple weeks of construction. Work will occur from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Nighttime single-lane closures may happen occasionally after this period.
- Daytime work is expected to begin early this fall and will occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- Lane restrictions will occur on I-15. Most work requiring lane restrictions is anticipated to occur at night.
- Ramp adjustments will occur at the Fort Hall Interchange (Exit 80) to match the grade of the new mainline.
- Variable speed limit signs will be installed in the project area, allowing ITD to lower speeds when crews are working near traffic.
Construction is anticipated to be completed in 2027. The project will increase capacity and improve safety on I-15 to serve East Idaho’s growing transportation volumes for years to come.
Due to the large project area, the widening of this stretch of I-15 has been divided into two projects with separate contractors. These contractors will work simultaneously to complete the projects. Western Construction, Inc. and Sundt Construction are the contractors for the north and south project areas, respectively.
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