May 1--Two Magic Valley groundwater districts secured $500,000 in loans Thursday for a project intended to keep the state from shutting their wells off.

At a special meeting in Boise, the Idaho Water Resource Board approved a loan request from the North Snake and Magic Valley groundwater districts to pay for a pipeline that would shuttle groundwater to a trout farm owned by Clear Springs Foods of Buhl. The project, approved as a replacement water plan for this year only, averted the need for hundreds of wells across the valley to be curtailed last month.

The loans won't cover the entire project, but should pay for "a good share" of it, said Lynn Carlquist, chairman of the North Snake district. Most of the engineering work for the project is done, and most easements acquired, he said, meaning construction could start soon -- and it needs to, to meet a June 1 deadline imposed by Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Dave Tuthill.

There's still a chance, however, that the loan won't be needed, said IDWR Administrator Hal Anderson. The districts have continued negotiations started earlier this year with Clear Springs to find a solution acceptable to both parties, he said, something the water board discussed before granting the loan request. The fish company requires a specific temperature and quality of water for its farm and research work, and has concerns over many parts of the pipeline plan.

"If these negotiations are successful, and who knows ?- they might not need to put in the project this year," Anderson said.

Also Thursday, board members entered into a memorandum of agreement with Idaho Power Co. reaffirming the recent Swan Falls Settlement. That settlement itself reaffirmed the landmark 1984 Swan Falls Agreement, in which the electric utility surrendered water rights at its Swan Falls Dam in exchange for guaranteed daily minimum Snake River flows as measured near Murphy.

Thursday's action by the board was one of several requirements for the new settlement to be executed. A number of people testified to the board, Anderson said, and most supported the settlement -- though the city of Pocatello is worried about how it might affect the river's flows, he said.

The board also instructed its consultant, CDR Associates, to move forward with the next step of a new plan to repair the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. The plan was recently vetted and approved by the Legislature, and the board's action now clears the way for an implementation committee to start on a series of tasks to put its contents into practice.

A PowerPoint presentation with the committee's next steps should be posted soon to an IDWR Web site, Anderson said.

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