More Studies Of Aquifer Urged Board Says Too Little Known Of Snake River Groundwater

The Idaho Water Resource Board is asking for more monitoring of water drawn from the Snake River Plain aquifer and more research.

The board makes its recommendations in the aquifer’s water plan. It is the first time the board has drafted a document specifically aimed at a groundwater source, said Chairman Clarence Parr of Heyburn.

“It was just one that was crying to be done,” he said, indicating several calls for water over the past few years prompted the need for a plan.

The panel wrote the proposal along with the State Water Plan, both are under public review.

The board recommends a number of sites be identified for recharging the groundwater.

“These sites should be physically practical for recharge of the regional basalt components, be in close proximity to the users, and maximize the long-term program objectives,” the aquifer document says.

The 1996 state plan made similar pronouncements, such as the state’s policy against drawing out more water than is recharged.

While the state blueprint endorses recharging, it stops short of backing any activity that would reduce stream flows through power generators or create problems for Idaho’s fisheries.

The board calls for computer modeling and study of the aquifer’s characteristics.

“We still don’t know all we need to know about this aquifer,” Parr said.

The state and Snake Plain plans would go to the Legislature for approval.