Can a groundwater recharge program save Teton Valley’s farmers?
… U.S. Geological Service data shows Teton Valley’s aquifer steadily declined in recent decades as development increased and crop watering systems became more efficient, reducing infiltration by replacing flood irrigation with pivots and sprinklers. In addition, the area’s transition from agricultural valley to recreation hub has meant less acreage being watered: farms replaced by subdivisions full of houses with domestic wells, each one a straw guzzling from the valley’s all-important aquifer. … Recharge has benefited farmers and fish in western communities like Idaho’s Eastern Snake River Plain and California’s Central Valley, and the group believes the data shows it can work in the Teton Basin. They hope it can. In addition to providing a bulwark against future water shortages or legislative changes to water rights laws, they want to do something groundbreaking: create a market-based system to pay farmers for incidental recharge.