Aquifer Recharge

Photo Credit: Camrin Dengel

The Teton Valley Aquifer Recharge Program works with willing agricultural and livestock producers to manage water on farms and ranches early in the irrigation season, to sustain water supplies for humans, fish, and wildlife into the late summer months. Prolonged drought, land-use changes, and declines in Idaho’s aquifer and river levels threaten the water supply and water quality for growing cities, rural areas, and wildlife, including the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.  Local irrigators, agencies, and conservation groups are positively changing the way they work together and manage water in order to improve water availability, soil health, and the Teton River fishery. The program is proving to be successful as a model for collaboration in the region while improving farming and ranching operations, and water quality and quantity.

Aquifer recharge or “recharge” occurs when surface water is absorbed into the ground and becomes groundwater. In Teton Valley there is a great deal of interaction between surface and groundwater, water is recharged into the aquifer via precipitation, sprinkler irrigation, and water seepage in streams, ditches, and irrigation canals.  Water that enters the aquifer moves through the ground more slowly than the surface water running downstream, and is delayed in its return to the Teton River. By managing water for recharge in the spring, the aquifer can be turned into a natural and cost-effective water storage mechanism during the summer months. When recharged water is slowly released from the aquifer to the Teton River, this supply benefits the ecosystem, fisheries, and farmers.