In recent weeks, many docks throughout reservoirs in Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming have been removed because of low water levels.
David Hoekema, a hydrologist at the Idaho Department of Water Resources, monitors the current water situation for the Snake River system.
Eastern Idaho is home to thousands of farms that rely on water for their crops. There are two major sources of that water: snowpack and reservoirs.
The snowpack supports farmers until the middle of the summer, then the reservoirs do their work.
“This year with the really low snowpack, we had to dip into our reservoir system early on,” Hoekema said.
Usually, farmers use the snowpack until about mid-June to early July, then they rely on the reservoirs.
This year, reservoirs opened two to three months earlier in mid-April.
“We’re looking at really, really low carry over in the Snake,” Hoekema said. “It’s only at 19% capacity currently.”
Local farmers irrigate their fields into October.
Because of that, there will be little carry-over at the end of the season.
For water storage to recover, Eastern Idaho would need a wet winter or a very wet spring.
Hoekema says the area will need a more than just an average snowpack or average temperatures.
“An average snowpack will help pull us along, but we’re still going to be at the drought threshold facing potential water shortages,” Hoekema said.
With the reservoirs this low and a second year of drought, Hoekema says that’s recipe for becoming one of the largest droughts on record.
The state has seen similar droughts before. Years,1988, 1992 and 2001, saw similar shortages.
With a normal snowpack this winter, Hoekema says that can help sustain for another year.
Not much can be done to reverse a drought. However, water conservation is a good way to help in a drought. However, some conservation methods can be harmful down the road.
“If people are lining canals to try to improve the efficiency of delivery, the problem with that is the following year, if it’s wet, those canals are our main source of recharge to the underlying aquifer,” Hoekema said.
When canal companies improve their canal efficiency, there’s less water returning to the Snake River. If water levels fall below minimums, that’s when water curtailments enter the conversation.
“There’s a very high probability we’ll have to curtail the trust water rights next year,” Hoekema said.
In a curtailment, farmers with specific water rights are limited on what water can be used.
The Idaho Water Resource Board has a goal to recharge about 350,000 acre-feet in the aquifer. That’s not possible in dry years.
“We need those wet years where they can maximize recharge into the aquifer,” Hoekema said. “They can get close to 200,000 acre-feet. if they don’t allow any bypass past Milner.”
When the state has a wet year, they must do flood control operations. The excess water goes downstream, out of the state and not into the aquifer.
“The state’s policy is to capture all of the excess water we can and get it into the aquifer,” Hoekema said.
For now, it’s a waiting game to see what winter brings. It could either cause more strain on the current resources or allow the state to work toward recovery.