ESPA Re-Charge for Dairymen

 Ever present in an ag producer’s mind is water and when it comes to water, certainly in the Magic Valley, the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer is never far from our thoughts. More than 3,600 acre-feet of donated Snake River water intended to recharge the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer has begun flowing through Magic Valley canals thanks to Clear Springs Foods, Inc. and the Surface Water Coalition, a group of Magic Valley canal companies and irrigation districts.

The water was donated to the Idaho Dairy Water and Land Trust, a subsidiary of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, to mitigate the impacts of ground water diversions for dairy livestock on senior water right holders in the Eastern Snake Plan Aquifer (ESPA).  Travis Thompson with law firm Barker, Rosholt and Simpson which works on legal issues regarding the ESPA explains: “ Water diverted at the North Side Canal up at Milnar Dam at the Snake River diverted through their canals and laterals to recharge back into the aquifer.”

 Bob Naerebout, Executive Director of Idaho Dairymen’s Association, said that the dairy industry, which is facing its most serious and drawn out financial crisis of the last 50 years, appreciates the assistance of the Surface Water Coalition, Clear Springs Foods, and North Side Canal Company to help keep the cost of this year’s recharge to nominal amount