Idaho Experienceing Worst Drought in 500 Years

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BLAND LETTER: The Natural Resources Weekly Report Page 2 of 2 As a result, Idaho's reservoirs are not refilling and the state is forced to live year to year for its water without being able to save any, akin to living paycheck to paycheck. The Idaho Department of Water Resources is now working diligently to make "calls" on water rights that ensure water users with senior rights get their share, meaning those with junior rights must sometimes go without. "Most Idaho reservoirs don't have that capability where they can supply full supply from the reservoir storage if we have low years more than just one or two years in a row. We're basically using it all up," said state hydrologist Bill Ondrechen. "It really is a drought problem, but the legal solution is someone needs to curtail their water so the senior water right user can get their water." John Roache of the Bureau of Reclamation echoed Ondrechen's comments. "There are shortages that are going to occur this year in some systems because we didn't have the carryover from last year," he said. He highlighted the Owyhee Basin in southwest Idaho and the Malheur River of eastern Oregon, near the border of Idaho, as areas that may experience severe shortages. Ondrechen used a statistical analysis called stochastic hydrology to determine how often a drought like this might occur. Based on records of streamflow for the past 96 years, he statistically calculated likely historic streamflows beyond that and determined that the Snake River would experience a drought lasting more than four years on a 500 -year cycle. "What that indicates is that it's fairly unusual," Ondrechen said. Idaho has experienced dry years in the past, some of them drier than now, like the infamous drought of 1977 and several exceptionally dry years in the 1980s and'90s. "But we had a year or two in there of average [water] or better to bring things back up and that's what we haven't had," Ondrechen said. The current drought might break the record for most consecutive years of drought. Although the Dust Bowl lasted throughout the 30s, the second half of the decade was sprinkled with a few wet years, so the current record holder for consecutive years of drought is 1930 through 1935. If 2005 stays as dry as expected, Ondrechen said the current drought will break that record. Svoboda of the drought mitigation center wondered if some of the effects of the drought are self - imposed. "It's hard to say exactly how much of that impact we're putting on ourselves," he said. "You basically have a question of sustainable growth versus a finite water supply, and you don't really have anywhere to go except underground, and then you're robbing from your future by depleting aquifers." An aversion to excessive groundwater pumping is a primary reason the state is making calls on water rights, so it is forced to live within its means. And the drought is starting to affect not just rural areas, but also the heavily populated areas of Boise and surrounding towns known as the Treasure Valley, and farmers in the nearby Payette Valley. Although Idaho has been able to handle the drought so far, Dreher warned that now is not the time for the state to rest on its laurels. "What we're going through is bad and it could get worse," he said. Northwest reporter Natalie M. Henry is based in Portland, Ore. E &E Pu Eis it .LLB = ESE D i y _ Greenwire = Land Letter Us About E _ _ @ubl h n = Privacy �aI y = Staff _Direct ry = ont C1t O 1996 -2004 E &E Publishing, LLC http: / /www.eenews. net /Landletter /include /print.php ?single= 05050503 5/5/2005