Idaho lawmakers moving toward state money for fish farm deal
By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 5:51 PM CDT
BOISE, Idaho - A fish farm may help Twin Falls solve its arsenic-laced drinking water problems as well as boost groundwater pumpers’ efforts to settle water-rights disputes that have threatened to put a huge dent in south-central Idaho’s agricultural economy.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee signed off Tuesday on providing $5 million, plus a $10 million state loan, to help buy 400-acre Pristine Springs, a warm-water tilapia and rainbow trout farm along the Snake River.
The overall transaction is valued at $26 million.
The deal must still be approved by the full House and Senate, but lawmakers, municipal officials and ground-water pumpers are optimistic the transaction will at least ease water fights in the region.
Those have been exacerbated by drought and more than a half-century of ground-water pumping that’s depleted the Lake Erie-sized Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer.
“What we are trying to do here is take the first step toward a longer-term solution,” said Clive Strong, a deputy attorney general and Idaho’s resident water expert who helped draft the plan.
Twin Falls would use its proposed share of Pristine Springs’ water to dilute water it gets from wells south of town that exceed federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for arsenic concentrations. After infrastructure additions including 30-inch pipes, blending stations and pumps, the city would be able to access to more than 9 million gallons of water daily from Pristine Springs to dilute the arsenic-tinged water and supply additional water for its growing population.
Ground-water pumpers whose wells have been blamed for sapping spring flows to Blue Lakes Trout Farm in Twin Falls would be able to deliver a portion of the Pristine Springs water to satisfy Blue Lakes’ demands for more water.
The state Water Resource Board would own the 400-acre property, which includes a small hydroelectric power station.
According to preliminary terms of the deal, Idaho would loan $10 million to the Idaho Groundwater Appropriators group, plus contribute another $5 million of taxpayer money to the project. The ground-water pumpers would chip in $1 million, then pay off the state’s $10 million loan over the next decade at about 4 percent interest.
Twin Falls would pay a $10 million share.
In early 2006, tests showed naturally occurring arsenic in Twin Falls wells violated new federal standards. Arsenic in drinking water has been linked to some cancers.
Since then, city managers have been working with state Department of Environmental Quality regulators on a solution, with proposals including a possible expensive water treatment plant that would cost about $1 million annually to operate. A share of the Pristine Springs deal could eliminate the need for that expense, saving some $10 million and reducing yearly operating expenses by $500,000, City Manager Tom Courtney said.
The plan still doesn’t resolve myriad other southern Idaho water conflicts. For instance, groundwater users still face additional lawsuits demanding water.
Still, lawmakers from the region said this is a wise use of state resources and bargaining power. Some compared the plan to the state’s $24 million purchase of water rights from the Bell Rapids Mutual Irrigation Co. of Hagerman three years ago, a deal in which Idaho now leases water to the federal Bureau of Reclamation to meet flow requirements for salmon under the Endangered Species Act.
“While this does not solve it completely, it goes a long way to the heart of the problem,” said Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert.
Wayne Hammon, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s budget director, said the governor is satisfied with the new plan. Previously, Otter had favored a separate $14 million plan, including letting some southern Idaho cropland lie fallow to free up water to satisfy lawsuits.
Lynn Tominaga, director the Idaho Groundwater Appropriators, didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Neither did representatives for Pristine Springs, located about a mile downstream from where U.S. Highway 93 crosses the Snake River on the Perrine Bridge.
Comments »
Comment on this story
Comments will be approved within 48 hours
|
