‘This year was OK’: Southwest Idaho irrigation season nears end — on more normal schedule
A year after drought forced irrigation canals to run dry early, the Treasure Valley is heading into a mostly regular shutdown schedule over the next few weeks.
From Sept. 28 to Oct. 15, all of the cities and water districts in the valley will turn off the spigots — after a year that started with fears of bad drought but ended on a way better note.
Wednesday, Sept. 28, will be a key day, as the city of Nampa and two big irrigation districts, Nampa & Meridian and Boise-Kuna, shut down their systems. Those two districts provide irrigation water to a large swath of the Treasure Valley.
The city of Nampa actually relies on three irrigation districts to supply its water, with the Pioneer Irrigation District being the third. The city said in a press release that it counts on all three to fully operate its pressurized system, so it’s closing along with two of the three. Pioneer has set its shutoff date as Monday, Oct. 3.
“Yearly irrigation assessments are calculated and based on the square footage of a property,” the release said. “The irrigation water is not metered, and the length of the season is dependent on the availability of water.”
After last year’s drought, Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling created a Drought Task Force to prepare for future irrigation seasons and encourage wise water use, according to the release.
Here is a list of some shutoff dates:
- Sept. 28: Nampa & Meridian, Boise-Kuna, New York Irrigation District, Boise Project Board of Control
- Oct. 3: Pioneer Irrigation
- Oct. 7: Settler’s Irrigation
- Oct. 12-15: Boise City Canal Co., South Boise Water Co.
- Oct. 15: Farmer’s Union Ditch Co.
To find your irrigation district, visit the Idaho Department of Water Resources’ interactive map.
Bob Carter, Boise Project Board of Control project manager, said a typical shutoff date is early to mid-October, according to previous Statesman reporting. But he said it’s the board’s responsibility to always look ahead, even if current conditions are good.
“We’d like to conserve some water for next year because we don’t know what the future holds for this winter,” he told the Statesman in early August.
What does drought look like in Idaho?
Water experts and meteorologists in Idaho feared a drought worse than last year as spring started, after seeing low snowfall in the mountains and forecasting hot, dry temperatures throughout the irrigation season. However, heavy rainfall — and even a bunch of snowfall — in late spring made far more water available than in 2021.
“This year was OK, but it was very unusual,” said Michael Comeskey, the secretary-treasurer for the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District. “We were preparing to have the worst drought.”
Paul Arrington, executive director of the Idaho Water Users Association, said the irrigation season ideally lasts until October, so this year’s timeline worked out well. With more water available, irrigation districts were able to extend the seasons, but conservation was still on the minds of many.
“A drought doesn’t necessarily mean the ground is parched and cracked,” Arrington said. “It’s about the quantity of water we have.”
Arrington said a dry season also affects Boise’s recreational values and aesthetic, since river water is diverted into canals for agricultural irrigation, sometimes causing low flows in the Boise River.
Most visibly, though, a drought impacts farmers, he said in a phone interview.
“Farmers are going to plant fewer acres, and they don’t have something else to fall back on,” he said. “Maybe they’re going to plant a crop that requires a little more water that may bring more money, or maybe a crop that requires less water that may not bring them the money.”
People living in residential neighborhoods can turn to city water to irrigate their lawns when irrigation districts shut off, Arrington said, but farmers don’t have that option.
“This expectation we’ve created of having the greenest lawns and the biggest trees, it’s beautiful,” he said. “But in times of drought, which happens to us fairly often, it’s not the most beneficial use of our water.”
Arrington said he recommends that people create more drought-tolerant land and practice xeriscaping.
