Aquifer Re-charge

Aquifer Re-charge

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
When I first took this job, I was told by my predecessor that Idaho had an aquifer that was the equivalent of Lake Erie. Whether or not that is true, I am not sure but I do know that the vast agricultural community in Idaho has been tapping that aquifer for years. This is a great time to restore some of that water. From a recharge standpoint, this is going to be a really great year.” Idaho Department of Water Resources recharge program manager Wesley Hitke, says the spring of 2017 Has provided the perfect amount of precipitation to add to Idaho's underground water bank.

 

Underground, stretching from Yellowstone to the Snake River on the Idaho- Oregon border lies a 10,000 mi.² aquifer. North of Shoshone, Don Brown helps manage one of Idaho’s best sites for adding surface water to the huge underground storage tank. Brown says moving the water to recharge is helping to ease the impact of high flowing rivers and streams that are causing upstream flooding. "We had an ample flow of water this year. Most generally we don't have recharge water this time of year, they are trying to stored in the reservoirs, trying to get enough irrigation water to make the season but this year we have ample water so we are trying to keep the flood from getting down a little bit so we are taking water out of the Little Wood River right now and putting it in a recharge site to keep the water from flooding the Gooding residence along the river down there. This is one year in 10 that this has happened. I have been here 17 years and I have seen it three times so it doesn't happen real often. Right now we are running 200 CFS out there, maybe a little less than 200,

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