Idaho Water Managers warn of ‘dire’ summer outlook as runoff hits historic lows

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – Idaho's water outlook is looking grim despite some short-term relief in the coming days, water managers warned during the final Idaho Water Supply Committee meeting of the season on Wednesday.

Water managers say Southeast Idaho’s water outlook this summer remains below average, especially throughout the Snake River Basin. Another major topic at the meeting was Heise’s projected runoff forecast of just 70 percent of normal, making it the eighth worst on record.

"Water conditions are quite dire for Idaho. We have seen extremely low precipitation levels in the southeast. The southwest portion of Idaho specifically and have seen low snowpack levels throughout the winter in the headwaters," Brian Stevens, the Water Operations Manager for the Bureau of Reclamation in Southeast Idaho, said.

Water supply remains a growing concern in the area, especially after a winter with below-average snowpack, meaning there's less melting snow available to flow into rivers and reservoirs. However, there was still some hope in previous months.

"The warm temperatures in March melted a fair amount of the low elevation snowpack, which did put some water in the reservoirs. But what it did was reduce the amount of flow that was left to come out of the mountains from early May," Stevens said.

Stevens says even small conservation efforts can make a big difference across the entire basin.

"I think conservation is always good, even for single homes to conserve water, because the water that is taken out of the aquifer is water that could be left there. So we need to conserve as much as we can in the aquifers to help groundwater levels, which in turn helps surface water levels in the reservoirs and water users throughout the basin," Stevens said.