Western States Water Council 2001 Report

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COUNCIL MEETINGS 147th Council Meetings Boise, Idaho April 20 -22, 2005 The Western States Water Council's 147th meetings were held in Boise, Idaho on April 20 -22. Governor Dirk Kempthorne was unable to attend, but welcomed the Council to Idaho with a letter stating, "These truly are historic and challenging times for water management.... While winter brought relief to much of the West, Idaho is experiencing one of its driest years ever. In the Upper Snake River Basin, we are moving into our sixth straight year of drought — the longest continuous drought cycle in recorded state history, with a recurrence interval estimated to be in excess of 500 years. We are determined to find workable solutions to Idaho's water shortage problems." He mentioned disputes between ground water and surface water users on the Eastern Snake River Plain, and the recent agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe, "settling the single biggest claim on Idaho's water." He concluded, "Together, we can develop water management strategies beneficial to all water users, throughout the West." The regular meetings of the Council were preceded by a Water Conservation Roundtable discussion on Wednesday morning between state and federal water agencies. Similar discussions on different topics were held as part of the year's Council meetings. The roundtable began with WSWC Chairman Hal Simpson presenting a suggested definition of water conservation, and describing what conservation is and what it is not. For example, minimizing use and losses from on- farm irrigation systems and off -farm canals and laterals also results in a reduction in return flows and/or incidental ground water recharge — which may be detrimental to other water users or uses, including wetlands and other environmental uses — without perhaps increasing basinwide water use efficiency or reducing total ground water pumping if farmers expand their irrigable acreage. A site - specific review of proposed measures and their impact on other water rights and water uses is necessary to evaluate the costs and benefits of conservation. Other participants included: Dave Pope, Chief Engineer, Kansas Division of Water Resources; Richard Tullis, Assistant General Manager, Central Utah Water Conservancy District; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Mark Limbaugh; Roger Gorke, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Policy Advisor to the Assistant Administrator for Water; Deputy Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service (MRCS), Tom Christensen; and John Johnson, Farm Services Agency (FSA) Deputy Administrator. Each described agency actions and their perspective on water conservation. Following the roundtable discussion, Idaho hosted a tour of the Thousand Springs area and aquaculture along the Snake River, with appetizers and dinner featuring locally raised trout, catfish and alligator. The availability of high quality and consistent cold water springs for raising trout, as well as geothermally heated waters for producing catfish, tilapia and alligators, provide a unique and cost competitive environment for aquaculture. However, declining springflows due to changing and more efficient irrigation practices on the Eastern Snake Plain, together with increasing pumping of ground water, have impaired senior surface water rights to the springs, requiring the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) to cutoff junior ground water uses, unless junior users can mitigate the injury they cause senior users. At the full Council meeting, IDWR Director Karl Dreher elaborated on the issues involving the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA), which underlies some 10,000 square miles of southeastern Idaho. The fractured basalt is very transmissive and in places is thousands of feet thick. It is estimated that the aquifer stores nearly a billion acre -feet (af) of water. The ESPA's average annual 17