The Idaho Water Resource Board approved $200,000 per year for the next three years to match Big Wood River users’ contributions to a fund that supports supply-related projects in the state’s central mountains.

The state Department of Water Resources director in May 2022 approved a Big Wood groundwater management plan. The plan calls for groundwater usage reductions, funding for a cooperative cloud seeding program in the Wood River Basin, delivery of Snake River storage water and establishment of the Conservation, Infrastructure and Efficiency Fund to which the board would contribute up to $200,000 a year for three years.

The fund was developed to be used for infrastructure improvements and other permanent measures that “improve the efficiency of delivering senior water rights, protect groundwater levels and for purchasing storage water,” according to the resolution the board approved.

Groundwater users contribute to the fund under the Big Wood groundwater management plan.

“It’s a way for cities, municipalities and homeowners associations to participate in or contribute to water supply efforts,” said Carl Pendleton, a member of the Big Wood Ground Water Management Area Advisory Committee.

These users have fewer means by which to control usage compared to farmers downstream, he said. By contributing to the fund, they can help pay for projects such as lining canals and building laterals “so you end up with less (groundwater) demand by agriculture lower in the system.”

Saving and moving water are especially important in the Big Wood Basin, which is small, gravel-bottomed and “does not store well” for long periods, Pendleton said.

The board’s Nov. 22 vote extended its $200,000 annual contribution to the fund for another three years.