Building consensus in Idaho to benefit water quality, endangered species, the environment, and irrigation!
Date
1996-12
Authors
Limbaugh, Mark A., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Balancing the needs of the environment, endangered species, and a healthy agricultural economy within a river basin is challenging. On the Payette River in Idaho, consensus has been reached in an attempt to deal with current demands for water while protecting the reliability of irrigation water supplies. The Payette River system includes 845,000 acre feet of storage in three reservoirs, which is used to irrigate 150,000 acres of farmland and provide minimum pools for local fisheries and recreation. A Biological Opinion issued last year by the National Marine Fisheries Service protecting the listed Snake River salmon under the Endangered Species Act calls for 427,000 acre feet of Idaho water to be released annually to augment flows on the lower Snake River to benefit migrating smolts. The past few years, 145,000 acre feet from the Payette basin has been leased annually to the local water rental pool by storage contract holders for the purpose of flow augmentation under this BiOp. Renting this water creates a problem with water quality in one of the reservoirs, which has been labeled "water quality limited" by the State of Idaho under the federal clean water act. A local water quality group on the reservoir has opposed drawdowns for flow augmentation during summer months in order to protect water quality and cold water fisheries in the reservoir. Conversely, additional flows during the summer would benefit water quality on the lower Payette River, also designated "water quality limited" by the state. Flows in the river have historically been low in the summer as a result of conserving storage water for irrigation. Low flows during the summer not only aggravate problems with water quality and local fisheries on the river, they also have the same affects downstream on Snake River reservoirs. In a series of meetings, representatives of all interests on the river discussed what could be done to improve overall river health. Consensus was achieved through compromise, cooperation, and communication. It was decided to split the release; about one half of the water would be released in the summer to benefit the lower river, and the balance would be released during the winter to benefit fisheries and water quality during summer months on the reservoir.
Description
Presented at Competing interests in water resources - searching for consensus: proceedings from the USCID water management conference held on December 5-7, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada.