555 



Plans to conserve, reallocate, or temporarily reassign water supplies to 

 provide habitat enhancement or augmentation flows may also require some form 

 of contractual and institutional modifications. Reclamation is also 

 investigating a number of potential water allocation mechanisms such as water 

 banking and marketing, dry-year option leasing, storage buy-backs and other 

 measures. 



Snake River Flow Augmentation Pro.iect 



The Snake River Flow Augmentation Demonstration Project will be part of a 

 comprehensive salmon management program for the Snake River system. In this 

 project conserved water would be managed to provide flow augmentation at 

 specific times for salmon passage. Such augmentation might be used in 

 flushing juveniles downriver, or providing freshets to aid upstream bound 

 adults reach their headwater spawning areas. 



The focus of the Snake River Flow Augmentation Project at present is the 

 evaluation of conservation measures for the Northside Canal Company 

 (Northside) in southern Idaho. 



The Northside diverts from the north bank of the Snake River at Milner 

 Diversion Dam near the town of Hazelton. The lands served extend from the 

 Hazelton vicinity to downstream of Bliss, a total of 160.000 acres. Towns in 

 the area include Hazelton. Eden. Jerome. Wendell. Gooding. Bliss. Tuttle. and 

 Hagerman. The canal system is constructed in an area underlain by lava flows, 

 resulting in substantial distribution system losses. The intent is to make 

 the delivery of water more efficient through structural system improvements 

 and increased management capability. 



A number of opportunities are being studied that have potential to conserve 

 water supplies for Northside. These include (1) lining a reach of the main 

 canal through an area of badly fractured rock (estimated to be leaking 100-150 

 cfs). (2) constructing three regulating reservoirs in a small portion of the 

 Northside service area known as the "W" lateral system, giving the district 

 the capability of redirecting or storing excess flows as they occur, and (3) 

 automating one of the regulating reservoirs on the "W" lateral system. 



The water to be regulated as a result of items 2 and 3 is water which 

 presently flows over the canyon rim into the Snake River. The regulated water 

 supply would be kept available for use by Northside rather than lost. 

 Regulation reservoirs would also alleviate the sediment load currently carried 

 to the Snake River by these surface returns. This has been noted as a major 

 issue by the Mid Snake Irrigation Water Quality Coordination Committee in a 

 July 24. 1992 report to the Idaho DEQ. Another group concerned about surface 

 flows are the fish hatchery operators who are situated on the banks of the 

 Snake River alongside the spring outflows. They want a continued supply of 

 ground water emerging from the springs and no sediment laden surface water 

 from the rim. 



Through the course of the study it appears that items 2 and 3 will remain 

 quite popular and that item 1 could be controversial. The study will be 



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