Water for 2021 is ‘Golden’ official reports

Water won’t be an issue for users this year, according to recently retired Weiser Irrigation District Board Chairman Vern Lolley.
 Lolley has been reporting snowpack measurements in the area for about 30 years.
 “Right now, we are looking good,” he told the Weiser Signal American.
 The bulk of the snowpack reported at measurement sites impacting the area ultimately drains into the 2,921-acre Crane Creek reservoir, located about 19 miles northeast of Weiser.
 “The reservoir is full and we should have plenty of water for the season,” he said. “It’s been running over the big spillway about a foot deep and the smaller one about 10 inches. Once the reservoir is full, and it’s running over, we are golden.”
 Equipment upgrades have helped conserve water.
 “Because of the increased and improved electronics we’ve put in, we can get away with a lot less water than we used to,” he explained.
 In addition, snowpack is better this year, hovering in the middle range of the spectrum, according to Lolley, and there is water left in the reservoir from the previous season.
Water shortage became a problem during the late 1970s when levels ran low enough to put farmers, including Lolley, in a serious predicament.
 “1977 was the ‘year of the big drought, and 1979 wasn’t’ far behind,” he recalled.
 Lolley never forgot those times, keeping them in mind during his tenure as the District’s chairman.
 “We try to hold a given amount, in reserves, so we always have that to bank on,” he said. “The electronics we have now helps us do that and with the amount of storage we have in Crane Creek, we won’t run out of water this year,” he said.
 The District pulls water from the Weiser River into June, when it begins pulling from Crane Creek Reservoir, Lolley added.
 More information on Idaho snowpack conditions can be found at the Department of Agriculture’s SNOTEL website at www.nrcs.usda.gov.
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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