| During the month of April, the Idaho
Water Resource Board (IWRB) in a partnership with the city
of Twin Falls, North Snake and Magic Valley ground water
districts, completed a series of transactions resulting in
the purchase of Pristine Springs fish farm operation. The
transactions are designed to address conflicts between
spring water users and ground water users in Magic Valley as
well as provide the city of Twin Falls with a fresh water
source to improve the quality of its water supply and
provide for future growth of the city. The acquisition of
Pristine Springs provides ground water users with
replacement water to address the Blue Lakes Trout Farm
delivery call by making available 10 cubic feet per second (cfs)
of water for mitigating ground water user’s depletions on
spring flows at the Blue Lakes trout facility. The
acquisition provides for a permanent solution to one of the
water calls and keeps farmland in production that would have
been dried up. The water districts will pay $11 million in
total, $1 million initially plus $10 million and interest
for 10 years as part of a loan from the IWRB. The IWRB will
eventually have the $10 million plus interest returned to
its revolving loan program which will be used to finance
other water projects across the state.
The water provided by the water districts will avoid the
need to curtail as many as 30,000 acres of ground water
irrigated farmland thereby avoiding an estimated economic
impact of $80 million to $100 million to the region.
The purchase also avoids potential water delivery calls
from Pristine Springs and the city of Twin Falls. In
addition, the acquisition resolves a lawsuit between the
Department of Environmental Quality and the former owner of
Pristine Springs concerning the amount of effluent returned
to the Snake River by the fish farm operation.
The city of Twin Falls benefits from the plan and will
contribute $10 million to acquire a clean water source in
order to comply with federal water quality standards. The
alternative for the city was to build a $33 million water
treatment facility. The city will also have use of
additional spring water to meet future growth.
Included in the acquisition of the Pristine Springs are
two hydropower facilities that will generate approximately
$100,000 per year under current agreements with Idaho Power.
That revenue, in excess of operating costs, will be returned
to the IWRB revolving loan program.
As part of the agreement, IWRB will lease the property
back to the current owner to continue some fish farming
operations for at least the next two years. The funds gained
from the lease will further reduce the Board’s purchase
price.
In addition to the numerous water supply benefits of the
transaction, the State will own water rights for more than
200 cfs of water, 400 acres of prime river front property
(including 200 irrigated acres), fish hatchery and
hydropower facilities, and other buildings on the property.
The $5 million in funding contributed by the Board is the
result of an appropriation to the IWRB by the Idaho
Legislature in 2006 to acquire water and facilities to help
resolve water conflicts in the Thousand Springs area.
The deal resulted from the leadership of Governor Otter,
Speaker Denney, Pro-Tem Geddes, Co-Chairmen of JFAC, Senator
Dean Cameron and Representative Maxine Bell and the Idaho
Water Resource Board. The acquisition was approved by the
Joint Appropriation Finance Committee on March 12, 2008 by a
20 to 0 vote. It was also unanimously approved by the IWRB
on March 14, 2008.
Contact:
Bob McLaughlin
208-287-4828 |
