04/14/08 Water supply outlook

Last month when the Idaho water supply committee met Hal Anderson of the Water Resources Department summed up the water situation by calling it 'cautiously optimistic.' So how did Anderson summarize the results of last Friday's water supply meeting? ANDERSON "Boringly average, ha, ha." And that is the good news. Most Idaho basins have an average snowpack and much of that snow is still in place, even at mid-elevation thanks to late March storms and a cool April so far. ANDERSON "We had areas like the south fork of the Snake above Palisades that were 130 percent of average which brought them up from below average to above average and also the same for the Owyhee basin and the Bruneau area." North Idaho and the Weiser River basin are two areas that have excessive snowpack . Anderson says the potential is there but spring flooding may not happen. ANDERSON "This cool spring has been very, very helpful as far as minimizing flooding impacts. In fact we're supposed to be down into the below average temperatures again." The bottom line is that there should be adequate water storage this summer to meet the agricultural and recreational demands that will certainly come. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott