Tough decisions at hand for aquifer plan

By Cindy Snyder, Ag Weekly correspondent
Friday, July 4, 2008 1:08 PM CDT

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - After months of discussions, participants in a process to write a management plan for the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer are nearing the point where tough decisions are going to have to be made.

“We’re at the point where we need to close some doors,” Jonathan Bartsch told water users and water law attorneys in June. Bartsch is a consultant with the Boulder, Colo.-based firm that is helping with the CAMP or Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan process.

One way CAMP participants are beginning to limit the options that may ultimately become part of the plan is by putting together different management packages that accomplish different goals and come with different price tags.

For example, one plan could provide 300,000 acre-feet of water at an estimated cost of $131 million. Another has the potential to provide 900,000 acre-feet of water at an estimated cost of $1.71 billion.

Determining the economic costs and benefits of the packages is part of the evaluation process, but so is determining the unintended consequences. The Environmental Subcommittee is particularly interested in how different scenarios will affect the health of the Snake River itself along with potential impacts on fish and wildlife species, water quality and recreation.

Will Whalen, with the Nature Conservancy in Boise, chairs the Environmental Subcommittee for CAMP. The committee has seen the preliminary results from hydrologic modeling of the proposed 900,000 acre-feet plan. The model assumed all the management practices called for in the plan would be fully implemented within 10 years. The same modeling process is being run on the alternative packages.

“We’re a long way from having a plan done,” Whalen cautioned.

One interesting thing that modeling the most expensive scenario shows is that there is little effect above Blackfoot or below King Hill; but depending on which management alternatives are used, there can be fairly significant impacts to the springs. Essentially, the modeling shows no new water is created but how it is distributed can be changed.

However, one unintended consequence of an extensive recharge project seems to be that river flows “sag” in the spring when water is diverted for recharge. That may be an issue for a fish or wildlife species that relies on higher river flows in the spring, such as the white sturgeon.

“Our task is to think about these things, and to consider how the management alternatives may impact fish and wildlife as well as the river health,” Whalen said. “A measure of success for this process is that if we end up with a broadly supported plan that reduces conflict on the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer.

CAMP participants hope to complete a plan by fall so that public comment can be heard before the plan is presented to the 2009 Legislature.

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