May 22, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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11
Idaho
Proposal to eliminate ESPA boundary won’t return in 2016
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A proposed rule
that could have resulted in
more farmland being subject
to curtailment during future
water delivery calls was re-
jected by Idaho lawmakers this
year and won’t be proposed
again next year.
The proposal by the Idaho
Department of Water Resourc-
es would have repealed “rule
50” of the section of state code
dealing with the conjunctive
management of surface and
groundwater. The rule iden-
tifies the area of the Eastern
Snake Plain Aquifer that has a
common ground water supply.
A total of 1.8 million acres
of farmland within that bound-
ary is subject to curtailment
during water delivery calls.
Land outside the boundary is
not.
If the rule had been re-
pealed, up to an additional
500,000 acres of land could
have potentially been subject
to curtailment, opponents of
the proposal claimed.
IDWR Director Gary
Spackman said the proposal
would not reappear in 2016.
“I don’t intend to go back
next year with the same pro-
posal,” he said. “The legisla-
ture said they want to leave the
rule in place.”
Lawmakers were split on
the proposal, which was craft-
ed after Clear Springs Foods
petitioned the IDWR to revise
the boundary.
Spackman and IDWR se-
nior adviser Richard Rigby
told lawmakers the existing
ESPA boundary is based on a
1992 U.S. Geological Survey
study but the department’s
current technical informa-
tion and data shows a signif-
icant area outside the current
boundary is part of the ESPA’s
area of common groundwater
supply and contributes to the
aquifer.
Since those acres impact
the aquifer, it’s a matter of
fairness to those inside the
boundary that the department
should consider their impact
when responding to water de-
livery calls, Rigby said.
He said the department
received 200 comments on
the proposed rule and those
within the current boundary
generally liked it while those
outside of it who could be im-
pacted by future delivery calls
didn’t.
Though the House and
Senate resource committees
rejected the proposed rule,
several legislators supported
it.
Rep. Fred Wood, R-Bur-
ley, said having an arbitrary
boundary that doesn’t con-
form to what the IDWR’s cur-
rent data shows “just simply
isn’t fair. I think those (addi-
tional 500,000 acres) proba-
bly should be incorporated.”
But other lawmakers said
there was too much uncertain-
ty involved with the proposal,
including exactly how much
those additional 500,000
acres contribute to the aquifer.
“I’m certainly not com-
fortable with moving this
forward,” said Sen. Jeff Sid-
doway, a Republican rancher
from Terreton, who made the
motion to kill the rule on the
Senate side.
Rigby said the matter is
complex and challenging, and
although the legislature re-
jected the rule, the underlying
issues are still alive.
Spackman said it’s con-
ceivable that during a future
water call, a court could deter-
mine that the ESPA boundary
doesn’t reflect the IDWR’s
current data and order the
department to consider those
additional acres.
He said the proposed rule
would not have established
a new boundary. It would
have “eliminated an artificial
boundary that is not defensi-
ble technically or, perhaps,
legally.”
Processing continues to
grow in Southern Idaho
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Growth in agribusiness
in south-central Idaho’s
Magic Valley over the past
few years continues to gain
momentum with two new
projects announced on
last.
PerforMix
Nutrition
Systems is building an an-
imal nutrition facility at
Rupert and Glanbia Foods
is expanding its cheese pro-
cessing operation at Good-
ing, according to Southern
Idaho Economic Develop-
ment Organization.
PerforMix, a liquid and
dry feed supplement and
nutrition company for the
beef and dairy industries
and a subsidiary of Boi-
se-based Agri Beef Co.,
will expand its production
with a new facility on 10
acres in Rupert.
The business has facil-
ities in Nampa and Fruit-
land, Idaho, and Moses
Lake, Wash.
Groundbreaking on the
“most advanced liquid feed
operation in the Pacific
Northwest” is expected be-
fore July 1, according to
company officials.
The company is near-
ing capacity at its Nampa
plant and the Rupert facil-
ity will allow it to move
its existing Eastern Idaho
business to Rupert, open-
ing up capacity for growth
in the Treasure Valley, said
Jim Keppen, PerforMix
president.
On the western side of
the valley, Glanbia Foods
is expanding its pres-
ence in Gooding with the
purchase of the former
WEL Co. building. The
120,000-square-foot build-
ing and about 25 adjacent
acres sits about 5 miles
from Glanbia’s cheese
plant where storage is at
capacity.
The building has 38,000
square feet of refrigerated
space and will serve as ex-
tended warehouse capacity
for barrel cheese, allowing
for future growth in Good-
ing, said Ryan Heywood,
Glanbia distribution and
project manager.
The new building, sur-
rounding property and rail
access capabilities offer
numerous expansion op-
portunities, he said.
The two latest announce-
ments are in addition to
several new agribusiness
facilities and expanded
operations in the Magic
Valley, including new in-
vestments from Chobani,
Monsanto, Clif Bar, and
Frulact Group and expan-
sions by Glanbia, McCain
Foods, Calva/Brewster, and
WillTran.
New agribusiness and
expansion in 2014 gener-
ated nearly $800 million
in capital investment and
created nearly 5,000 jobs,
according to SIEDO.
Idaho ranks in the top
third of U.S. states for
food processing, and south-
ern Idaho leads the state’s
agribusiness industry, con-
tributing well over half of
Idaho’s nearly $8 billion ag
DEQ specialist aids SE Idaho
producers with water projects
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO,
Idaho
— As a fourth-generation
farmer, Steve Smith be-
lieves agricultural produc-
ers are quicker to trust him
than a typical government
bureaucrat.
Since October, Smith
has served in the new po-
sition of source water and
watershed protection spe-
cialist with the Idaho De-
partment of Environmental
Quality’s Pocatello office.
In the past, the office
assigned 10 percent of one
staff member’s time to help
land owners access some of
the $2.4 million allocated
annually to Idaho for water
quality projects benefiting
diffuse sources, other than
industrial or municipal op-
erations. Seeking to prior-
itize the grant source, of-
fered under section 319 of
the federal Clean Water Act
and administered by DEQ,
Smith has been assigned
to devote 40 percent of his
time to those projects.
One of Smith’s recent
projects, for example, en-
tailed restoring Whiskey
Creek to its original chan-
nel at a Grace dairy. The
creek had been rerouted
through an old barn that
housed bulls, exposing the
water to excrement.
The grant also helped
to upgrade the dairy’s ir-
rigation system. Another
project involved upgrading
an old irrigation diversion
with a modern structure
that was both easier to op-
erate and better for fish
passage, as well as sta-
bilizing stream bank and
restoring flooding to natu-
rally irrigate land along the
channel.
On July 21, federal EPA
officials are scheduled to
tour southeast Idaho’s sec-
tion 319 projects, before
heading to see grant proj-
John O’Conner/Capital Press
A center pivot system irrigates an Idaho potato field in this file photo. University of Idaho Extension
irrigation specialist Howard Neibling expects most Eastern Snake Plain well users will find
relatively painless ways to meet a mandate to cut water consumption by 13 percent.
Expert offers well irrigators
tips to meet water cutback
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
KIMBERLY, Idaho —
University of Idaho Exten-
sion irrigation specialist
Howard Neibling expects
most Eastern Snake Plain
well users will find relatively
painless ways to meet a man-
date to cut water consump-
tion by 13 percent.
Irrigators with Idaho
Ground Water Appropria-
tors, Inc., recently agreed to
curb their water usage to help
stabilize a declining aquifer.
Many specific details of the
agreement, reached to avert
the Surface Water Coalition’s
call based on declining spring
flows into the Snake River
due to groundwater pumping,
are still being negotiated.
Neibling has been work-
ing to help irrigators in Neva-
da, Northern California and
Montana facing more acute
shortages reduce water use
by more than a quarter.
“Relative to (cuts) I see
some other groups are having
to make, it looks like in most
cases people will still be able
to do it and still maintain the
same acreage, and hopefully
grow the cropping mix they
want to grow,” Neibling said.
He believes growers will
implement new irrigation
technology and pay greater
attention to maintenance.
He said fixing leaky ir-
rigation systems is a good
place to start. In a commer-
cial study he conducted a few
years ago, Neibling evaluated
30 wheel lines, finding losses
due to leaks averaged 16 per-
cent. Growers lost another 13
percent due to worn or incor-
rectly sized nozzles.
The 30 pivots he tested
had few leaks, but about 60
percent of them didn’t meet
industry standards for uni-
formity of water distribution.
Neibling said pivot pressure
regulators and nozzles should
be replaced every five to sev-
en years to avoid uneven dis-
tribution.
Growers with hand and
wheel lines who irrigate on
12-hour sets should test soil
moisture to determine if it’s
penetrating below crop root
zones, Neibling said.
“The normal set in Kim-
berly, we were applying two
hours too much and had to
cut back a couple of hours,”
Neibling said.
In fields heavy in rock
outcroppings, Neibling said,
growers can avoid unneces-
sary watering by using vari-
able-rate pivot irrigation.
On flat, sandy soils, Neib-
ling’s research of pivots in
Arco, Idaho, shows growers
can improve soil moisture
penetration by 20 to 30 per-
cent by using hoses that low-
er nozzles from 6 feet off the
ground to closer to the crop
canopy. The method avoids
evaporation and wind-blown
water droplets, he said.
American Falls grow-
er Jim Tiede has chosen to
remove the end guns from
pivots on 720 acres of sugar
beet fields to comply with the
agreement.
“It’s not a real efficient
way to water,” Tiede said.
Neibling estimates grow-
ers can save 13 percent of
their water by turning off end
guns and leaving the corners
of fields fallow. Yields on
corners tend to be 17 percent
lower, anyway, due to ineffi-
cient watering, he said.
IGWA Executive Director
Lynn Tominaga anticipates
growers will also conserve
water by cutting out late-sea-
son irrigation of grains, when
crops are still green but ker-
nels have mostly filled in.
“It’ll mean we have to
manage the water better but
yet make sure our crops get
finished and we have good
quality,” Tominaga said.
Tominaga said agreement
negotiations must prioritize
protecting growers who have
already implemented con-
servation measures and have
less room for improvement.
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Steve Smith is the new source water and watershed protection
specialist with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s
Pocatello office. Smith helps agricultural producers access Clean
Water Act funding to improve their operations while maintaining
clean water.
ects in Magic Valley and
Treasure Valley.
Recipients of section
319 grants are expect-
ed to share 40 percent of
the costs of their projects,
with payments capped at
$250,000.
“Most of the (projects)
have an agricultural com-
ponent,” Smith said.
The remainder of his
time will involve work in
a program that protects
sources of drinking water,
and can also benefit agri-
cultural producers.
“Historically, having 10
percent of a person was al-
ways tough to do, because
it’s an ancillary duty,” said
DEQ Regional Administra-
tor Bruce Olenick. “I think
the hope is he’ll have a
better awareness of where
those trouble spots are and
maybe advocate for those
trouble spots, whereas be-
fore we were beating the
bushes trying to find proj-
ects.”
Smith, who farms 90
acres in Preston, previously
worked for the Idaho Asso-
ciation of Soil and Water
Conservation Districts and
the Idaho Soil and Water
Conservation Commission.
Paris
rancher
Max
Bunderson believes Smith’s
background in agriculture
gives him a more realistic
perspective about produc-
ers’ needs and the challeng-
es they face.
Smith helped Bunderson
secure section 319 funds
and plan how to relocate
old corrals and build a barn
to move cattle away from
Paris Creek, where they
were adversely affecting
water quality.
“Steve is nothing short
of a genius when it comes
to these projects,” Bunder-
son said. “He really went
off the deep edge to help
me. Not only do you trust
him, but he has foresight,
and he really understands
the procedures.”
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