Friday, February 1, 2019
9
CapitalPress.com
WATER
Institute researches, resolves water confl icts
By ALIYA HALL
For the Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. —
Todd Jarvis, director of
Oregon State Universi-
ty’s Institute for Water and
Watersheds, got his fi rst
introduction to water issues
at 8 years old when he vis-
ited a hot springs.
He said that experience
instilled in him the mystery
of how water got hot and its
source.
Water is connected to
everything. From health
to science to agriculture,
water makes people wealthy
in terms beyond mone-
tary, he said, and the insti-
tute was designed to support
water resource research and
technology.
Estab-
lished
56
years
ago
by
the
1964 Fed-
eral Water
Resources
Todd
Research
Jarvis
Act,
the
institute has had many mis-
sions over the years — from
researching water quality to
outreach. Now, its focus is
on nitrates in ground water,
using water for environmen-
tal fl ows and projects dedi-
cated to agricultural water.
One of the biggest proj-
ects that Jarvis said the insti-
tute is focusing on is aquifer
storage and recovery, which
studies storing water below
ground in aquifers. While
most regions are using it for
drinking water, Jarvis said in
Eastern Oregon farms want
to expand aquifer recharge
to agricultural uses.
One group is even try-
ing to repurpose an old dam
that never held water into an
aquifer storage and recovery
facility.
“A challenge in Oregon
is we’ve built dams every-
where we could, but we
need more storage,” Jarvis
said.
The institute also has
an interest in water when
it comes to growing food
and working with energy
sources, such as growing
high-nutrition crops in the
same place as solar panels.
“Many in the agricul-
tural industry feel that when
solar panels are placed it
condemns the area to (only)
solar panel use, and we’re
trying to show that’s not the
case; there’s multiple uses,”
Jarvis said.
There are multiple chal-
lenges associated with the
research, but Jarvis said
groups are working toward
innovative solutions. At
the 2018 Deschutes Basin
Water Summit, he said, one
of the board members from
the northern basin, which is
dealing with habitat conser-
vation, said that if a solution
can be found in the north
end, then the south end
won’t have any issues.
“Instead of a fi ght over
water that’s dedicated to
endangered species, it’s
‘let’s work with that so we
can make our water situa-
tion and water environment
better,’” Jarvis said.
Another future challenge
is regional governance over
water sources and fund-
ing for experiments. Jarvis
said that unlike other West-
ern states, Oregon is a new-
comer to investing in water
development. He said Ore-
gon relies heavily on federal
funding, and it needs to be
“more aggressive to invest
in water development with
our own funds.”
One solution, he said,
is having a fee associated
with using water, and selling
water to others. Jarvis fi rst
heard the idea in Pendleton
10 years ago, but he said it
should be “dusted off and
looked at again.”
Despite the challenges in
water research, Jarvis said
that there is still an element
of exploration.
“Most of my life was
focusing on fi nding water
for people to drink, and it
was always rewarding to
see a water district manager
come up to a brand new
well I drilled, take a glass of
water, drink it and smile,”
he said. “Everyone loves
water and it’s fun to talk
about. Oregon is known for
being the knowledge cen-
ter of water globally — the
world looks to us in many
fronts.”
Irrigation district launches $900,000 head gate modernization
By DIANNA TROYER
For the Capital Press
Dianna Troyer/For the Capital Press
Kail Sheppard, manager of the New Sweden Irrigation District, says members wanted to keep historic
127-year-old head gates. Mortar is beginning to deteriorate at one head gate, which prompted a
modernization project and the erection of new gates 70 feet upstream.
“Our members defi nitely want
to keep it because it’s such a big
part of our history,” said Sheppard.
“We’re Idaho’s fi rst irrigation dis-
trict. Private irrigation companies
are older, but as a district this is the
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A new $900,000 head gate
is modernizing the New Swe-
den Irrigation District in eastern
Idaho. It replaces a 127-year-old
structure that withstood a devas-
tating fl ood when the Teton Dam
burst in 1976.
“The water washed away the
ground around it, but the gate
stood intact,” said Kail Sheppard,
district manager.
The sturdy concrete and rock
gate with its four arched pan-
els span 90 feet. For more than a
century, members of Idaho’s old-
est irrigation district have relied
on it.
Though it withstood a disas-
ter, age has recently caused it to
decline.
“Last spring, we noticed mor-
tar was beginning to deteriorate
where a gate hinges into a pier,”
Sheppard said. “It couldn’t be
patched. High water would put
too much pressure on that gate.”
The new gate will have three
15-foot-square partially auto-
mated panels that will be lifted
with electric motors.
“Right now ... two guys use
hand cranks to raise it,” Sheppard
said.
When engineers advised dis-
trict members west and south
of Idaho Falls to tear down the
127-year-old Great Western Canal
head gate, they refused.
original gate and should be com-
pleted by March 1, 2019. The main
canal is 35 miles long, and the
entire system has about 125 miles
of waterways.
“Our system provides irriga-
tion for about 39,000 acres, with
28,000 acres within the district,”
Sheppard said. “We carry water for
small canal companies, too.”
Members are fi nancing the
$900,000 project with a loan.
“We were able to get a good
interest rate at a bank and plan to
pay it off in fi ve years,” he said.
The project made Sheppard, 56,
refl ect on the district’s history and
his family’s heritage. In the offi ce,
he can point to a map showing
where his great grandfather from
Sweden, Albert Hjelm, arrived in
1903 and eventually farmed west
of Firth.
Land in the district was devel-
oped when Chicago investors
formed a private company, the
Great Western Canal Company, and
built the main head gate in 1891.
They recruited Swedish farmers in
the Midwest after a drought devas-
tated their livelihoods.
The
company
eventually
defaulted on the loan that fi nanced
the project. In 1900, local farmers
bought the system for $65,000 and
established the district.
“At the time, they began mak-
ing improvements to it,” Sheppard
said. “We hope the new head gates
last more than a century like the
original ones have done.”