Franklin County added to drought list

Tue., July 27, 2004

Associated Press

BOISE — Franklin County has been included in Idaho’s list of counties in a drought emergency.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s declaration Monday made Franklin the 20th of the state’s 44 counties in drought emergency — one more than a year ago.

The Bear River Basin that supplies the county’s water is in an extreme to exceptional drought, and as a result, Bear Lake has been drawn down to a level near its all-time low. Local officials said that has left irrigators with only 37 percent of their normal allotment of storage water.

Under the declaration, irrigators in the county can work with the Department of Water Resources to secure temporary water rights and modify existing water rights through the rest of the year.

Drought declarations had already been approved for Bannock, Bingham, Blaine, Bonneville, Butte, Caribou, Clark, Custer, Gooding, Elmore, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Lincoln, Madison, Oneida, Power, Teton and Twin Falls counties.

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Franklin County added to drought list

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

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