03/31/08 Measuring ESPA water wells

Beginning today the US Geological Survey will conduct a large scale measurement of ground water levels in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer for the Idaho Department of Water Resources. IDWR's Sean Vincent says USGS will spend the next two weeks checking wells mostly on the north side of the Snake River from King Hill east to the Wyoming border. VINCENT "We looking to do a little more than 13 hundred water level measurements and we're trying to do it in a short time frame so that they are as close as possible in time so that we really just get a snapshot picture of the status of the aquifer in terms of water level." Vincent says when the data is compiled IDWR will have a baseline for future comparisons and it gives them a better calibration for the ESPA model. VINCENT "The more measurements we have the better we're able to calibrate the model, the more confidence we have the model is able to replicate what's going on." Vincent says they plan to take a similar survey in the fall and repeat the process every five years. VINCENT "Developing data for the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer so that we can gain a better understanding of how the aquifer works and ultimately improve the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer model." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott