Nearly $3M approved for aging Idaho water infrastructure by board

Thirty-eight grants were approved on Nov. 21 to go toward funding a variety of water user groups and soil and water conservation districts across Idaho.

The Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB) voted to approve the infrastructure grants totaling $22.9 million at its regular bimonthly meeting.

Four districts within the state will benefit from the Aging Infrastructure Grants for various projects.

Those 38 are:

Aberdeen Springfield Canal Co., District 4 – $670,647

AFRD2, District 3 – $2 million

District 45 Board of Control, District 3 – $999,900

Last Chance Canal Co., District 4 – $487,000

Goose Creek FCD, District 3 – $1.84 mill

Enterprize Canal Co., District 4 – $181,297

Farmers Land and Irrigation Company, District 4 – $180,000

Teton Island Feeder Canal Co., District 4 – $124,054

Dalton Gardens, District 1 – $1.4 million

Boise City Canal Co., District 2 – $108,400

Southeast Idaho Canal Co., District 4 – $221,415

Upper Wood River Water Users, District 3 – $200,000

Canyon Creek Canal Co. and FTR, District 4 – $2 million

LOID, District 1 – $2 million

King Hill Irrigation District, District 2 – $2 million

Consolidated Irrigation Co., District 4 – $76,549

Squaw Creek Ditch Co., District 2 – $535,400

Little Lost River Watershed Improvement District, District 3 – $40,475

Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, District 2 – $1 million

Trail Creek Irrigation Co., District 4 – $62,397

Adams SWCD, District 2 – $89,430

TFCC Clover Highline phase 3 and 4, District 3 – $137,245

North Side Canal Co., District 3 – $2 million

Eagleson Park Water User Association, District 2 – $19,000

Mountain Home Irrigation District, District 2 – $754,976

Henrys Fork GWD, District 4 – $781,797

Little Butte Irrigation Co., District 4 – $15,303

Boise Project Board of Control, District 2 – $20,000

Timberdome Canal Co., District 3 – $2 million

Boise Valley Irrigation Ditch Co., District 2 – $95,794

City of Boise, District 2 – $109,444

BLRID Arco Diversion, District 3 – $350,000

Water District 65, District 2 – $100,261

BLRID Mackay Dam Sediment Removal, District 3 – $75,000

BLRID Beck Evans Canal Diversion Replacement, District 3 – $85,000

FMID, District 4 – $23,391

BLRID Swauger Diversion Replacement, District 3 – $12,500

Caribou Soil Conservation District, District 4 – $108,600

In other actions, the board also voted to increase IWRB’s Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer recharge goal from 250,000 acre-feet to 350,000 acre-feet of water on a 15-7ear rolling average basis in the State Water Plan and the ESPA Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan, a release stated.

The IWRB board also launched the ESPA recharge winter season on Oct. 18, it stated, and about 32,342 acre-feet of water has been recharged into the ESPA thus far.

Following the direction of Idaho Senate Concurrent Resolution 110, the IWRB board held public meetings in Idaho Falls and Twin Falls earlier this year to receive public input on revision to the state water plan “to mirror the goals in the 2024 Water Settlement Agreement between the Surface Water Coalition and Ground Water Districts.” The board reported that “public comments generally supported the change.”