Water Runoff in Idaho

March precipitation increased the snowpack enough for local officials with the Idaho Department of Water Resources to forecast a solid runoff for 2009. Lyle Swank, Watermaster for state Water District 1 and regional manager for the Idaho Department of Water Resources, said an April 1 snow survey showed a sufficient amount of snowmelt water to predict an average runoff for this water year. Snake River flows have been high since the April 1 survey, Swank said the snowpack will be good enough to replace what’s headed downriver. The local aquifer that has been tapped because of drought in the last few years will begin the process of recharging. Here’s Tony Olenichak, Program Manager for Water District #1. “The snowpack was very close to average. We’ve had a wet last month where we were slightly below average a month ago and now we’re slightly above average and we’re predicting slightly above average runoff from the snowpack assuming we get average precipitation from this point on and that’s a big player. The long term forecast for the next 3 months is above average temperatures and below average precipitation so it doesn’t look like flooding.”

Any chance that some of this water can re-charge the aquifers? “Yes. In fact we’ve had some canals that have turned on early this year just for that purpose. They’ve run water and tried to sink water into the ground, even though they’re not using it for irrigation they are trying to sink it into the ground and help the aquifer.”