Teton Valley program to focus on aquifer recharge

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-The Idaho Water Resource Board has approved spending $60,600 from the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program to fund water delivery agreements with Teton River farmers and irrigators in the Teton River Basin.

The two-year pilot recharge project would deliver recharge water into gravel its to support the local aquifer and increase flows in tributary creeks of the Teton River for fish.

The project is supported by local irrigators and Friends of the Teton River (FTR).

FTR Water Resources Director Sarah Lien said local water users used to sub-irrigate farmland to bring up the water table and benefit fish and wildlife. But growth in Teton Valley has created a need to manage water recharge so that it can increase the ground water aquifer and cool off the river for native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

"Our goal is to reset the water supply back to the 1970's, when there was more flood irrigation," Lien said.