Water levels look so-so in the upper Snake River watershed
Not bad, but it could be better: that was the general consensus about the region’s current water situation during the Henry’s Fork Watershed Council meeting in Rexburg.
“We’re not in bad shape. We’re not certain yet that we can fill our reservoir system, but we should be pretty close.” said Mike Beus of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “Compared with last year we have a little less water in storage in our reservoir system, but we have a little more on the watershed (snowpack).”
With last year’s irrigation seasons starting early, water storage was drawn on for a period of time. To make up for that, water experts said the region could use more snowpack. “We need snow in particular,” said Dale Swensen, executive director of the Fremont/Madison Irrigation District. “We could have rain in the valley, but we want snow in the mountains.”
Current medium-term weather forecasts from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show Idaho having an average March for precipitation. Water experts say that will certainly help with water, but unless the area gets a good amount of snow in the mountains, there will still be a few departures from normal water management.
“In many years at this time we’d be interested in flood control,” said Beus. “We don’t have quite enough snow for that to influence our operations yet.”
Beus said less discharge for flood control means some parts of the plain won’t get the aquifer recharge the state was looking for. He also said they’ll have to pay attention to make sure waterways downstream get enough water for fish and wildlife habitats.
