Project Significance
Our project proposes using the natural hydrologic system to delay the timing of early-season runoff from snowmelt to the Teton River and, therefore, increase late-summer streamflow. Doing so will benefit farmers, fish and wetlands, all of which rely on having cold, clean water in the river during the summer. Our unique, new approach is low-cost and works within the framework of Idaho water law. Specifically, this program will provide incentives to local irrigators to divert water into their canals prior to the farming season. Doing so will allow the water to seep into the ground, where it will move through the shallow aquifer and emerge in the wetlands and the river about three months later in July and August when water is needed most.
This innovative solution allows us to work with the natural system to make water available when it is needed without having to increase water supply through other, more expensive, means. This project demonstrates great promise in meeting economic and environmental needs simultaneously and could be replicated elsewhere in the arid West to increase late-summer streamflow.
This innovative solution allows us to work with the natural system to make water available when it is needed without having to increase water supply through other, more expensive, means. This project demonstrates great promise in meeting economic and environmental needs simultaneously and could be replicated elsewhere in the arid West to increase late-summer streamflow.