BOISE — Making sure the West has the quantity and quality of water it needs will require continued innovation and increased collaboration, Tim Petty said.

As U.S. Department of the Interior assistant secretary for water and science, he oversees the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey. 

He said advances in weather forecasting are examples. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts could be put to prompt and meaningful use by Reclamation if collaboration is optimized and and data-sharing is immediate.

“We can do a lot with a 10- to 14-day forecast,” he said, referring to Reclamation. “That can make a huge difference in how we manage the resource.”

Petty sees more opportunities for communication and immediate data-sharing among agencies. Reclamation prioritizes irrigation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prioritizes flood control but they cooperatively manage the Boise River. The agencies could tap forecast tools to fine-tune the storage and release of water at dams, he said.

Reclamation could also closely track Idaho Power Co.’s cloud-seeding efforts while monitoring snow-accumulation conditions in the Snake River Basin.

“If we are having earlier-than-normal spring runoff, we don’t want to lose that resource,” he said. “If we can’t capture it, we are losing that.”

Reclamation also wants to add water-storage capacity in Idaho. Tools include a proposal to raise Anderson Ranch Dam on the South Fork Boise River and potentially increase the amount of Snake River water stored in aquifers.

“If we can develop new ways of getting water and storing it sub-surface, it means there would not be as much focus on building,” Petty said.

He sees greater opportunities for Reclamation in accessing water and using canals in winter to store more Upper Snake water in the aquifer.

“Are there better ways to manage that water throughout the year?” Petty said. An ongoing challenge is “continually taking research and science and putting it into applied use.”

The U.S. Geological Survey on Aug. 25 broke ground on the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center in north Boise. It will be an expanded replacement of the USGS Snake River Field Station now at Boise State University.

Petty said the lab will undertake nationally significant work, including analyzing water content and quality to help efforts to control invasive species.  Quagga and zebra mussels, for example, can foul irrigation works and other water-delivery infrastructure.

“We are chasing our tails on invasives,” he said. “We need to get ahead of the curve, and this lab will enable us to do that.”

Petty was born and raised on an Indiana farm. He holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Northern Engineering Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.