Photo: Storage water is recharged this fall into New Sweden Irrigation District’s reservoir. Through the first part of December, the Idaho Department of Water Resources is on pace to recharge a record amount of water into the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer in Southern Idaho. COURTESY IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
The Idaho Water Resource Board recharged a record amount of water into the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer during the 2016–2017 recharge season and is on pace to break that record during the current season. Wesley Hipke, who runs the board’s managed aquifer recharge program, said 317,000 acre-feet of water was recharged into the ESPA during the 2016–17 season, which ran from October to July.
By comparison, a total of 75,000 acre-feet of water was recharged into the ESPA during the 2014–15 season, which was the first time the board was able to conduct recharge throughout the winter. A total of 66,218 acre-feet of recharge occurred during the 2015–16 season. The 2016–17 total, which doesn’t include incidental recharge, almost doubled the previous record of 166,338 acre-feet, which was set during the 2011–12 season.
As of Dec. 11, the state program had recharged 175,000 acre-feet of water into the ESPA during the 2017–18 season, which began […]
Full article: Idaho on pace to set aquifer recharge record during 2017-18 season
More about USA aquifers:
Farmers drawing groundwater from Ogallala Aquifer faster than nature replaces it
Paper presents changes in Ogallala Aquifer groundwater quality
Idaho on pace to set aquifer recharge record during 2017–18 season
Scientists on Causes of High Radium Levels in Key Midwestern Aquifer
Nature is teaching … are we learning?
Here Comes the Sea: The Struggle to Keep the Ocean out of California’s Coastal Aquifers
Groundwater Modeling Software MODFLOW 6 Now Available
Controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question of who owns South Carolina water