North Side Pumping Co. is wrapping up a $4.1 million project to install 16.3 miles of buried pipeline and 30 new individual pumping stations to more efficiently provide water to its shareholder farmers.

The company provides water to irrigate 4,600 acres north of the Snake River in Jerome County in south-central Idaho.

The 100-year-old infrastructure is outdated and needed updating, said Parley Hinton, manager of North Side Pumping Co. and watermaster for sister company North Side Canal Co.

Before the improvements, the company used large pump stations to lift water 70 feet and put it in an open canal to convey water to its shareholders at higher elevations, he said.

The pipelines to lift the water needed to be replaced, which would have cost millions of dollars — with shareholders footing the bill, he said.

Gravity flow

A century ago, everything was gravity irrigated using corrugates, and the water had to be lifted to irrigate farms that were higher than the canals. But beginning in the 1970s, farmers started converting to pressurized systems with pivots or wheel lines.

The water will still need to be lifted 20-70 feet to service shareholders, but the 30 new pumping stations — each near the 30 individual farms — will eliminate the need to pump water twice, he said.

Farmers will now lift the water directly to their pressurized systems, without the need for North Side pumping to lift it to the open canal from which farmers had to pump it again to their pressurized systems, he said.

It will put farmers in control, save money and give them more flexibility, he said.

The new irrigation system will allow North Side Pumping to retire 14.5 miles of open lateral canals and phase out two large, old pumping stations — all of which required a lot of maintenance.

More efficient

The old system lost about 46% of its water to evaporation, percolation and having to run water to maintain flow. Water savings, as well as energy saving, will also come from the new variable frequency drive pumps that supply water to the individual farms, he said.

He estimated water savings at 6,300 acre-feet per year and is hoping for a 15% saving in energy.

“It’s been almost a three-year process between designing, engineering and finding the money,” he said.

The funding came through last year with a $951,800 Leadership Idaho Aging Infrastructure Grant from the Idaho Water Resource Board, a $2 million grant from the Bureau of Reclamation WaterSmart program and $1 million from the state. Local producers provided $213,588 in cost-share funds.

Construction began just after Thanksgiving, laying 88,000 feet of PVC pipe and installing the new pumping stations.

Things have been fast and furious over the last five months, he said.

Butte Irrigation is the project manager, doing all the installation. Installing that much pipe in cold winter weather is “just incredible,” he said.

The project is now connecting the 30 pumping stations with electricity from Idaho Power to supply water on demand. By the end of the week, everything should be operational, he said.