TWIN FALLS, Idaho — The Twin Falls Canal Company has secured a $26 million grant from the Idaho Board of Water Resources to accelerate critical infrastructure improvements across the Magic Valley's irrigation system.
The grant will fund three major projects designed to improve water efficiency and distribution across more than 202,000 acres of farmland that depend on water carried through over 1,000 miles of canal.
WATCH | Hear more about how the grant will be used—
Jay Barlogi, president of the Twin Falls Canal Company, said the organization's primary purpose is to divert water from the Snake River and deliver it to farm fields throughout the valley.
"Our primary purpose in this valley is to divert water out of a snake river and deliver it to farm Fields," Barlogi said.
The largest component of the grant will fund the lining of 9 miles of canal, a project that would have taken decades to complete without the additional funding.
"Again we've got another little over 9 miles of this canal line. It was gonna take us 20, 25 years to accomplish that because you know it's a lot of work," Barlogi said.
The canal section targeted for improvement runs along Rock Creek, where runoff from the south hills creates gravelly soil conditions that allow water to seep from the canal bottom.
"We are right here at the at the mouth of rock Creek where runoff spills out of the south hill and into the valley so because of that there's a lot of gravel in this area and those gravelly soils allow water to seep out of the bottom of the canal," Barlogi said.
The grant will also improve monitoring systems at 28 sites where canal water returns to the Snake River, allowing operators to better track water usage efficiency.
"If we're wasting way too much water, we can see that in that return and we could read back and we can tell the ditch riders on the water master you guys are gotta tighten up a little bit," Barlogi said.
"And if we see very little water, spilling of those that we know we're doing a pretty good job," Barlogi said.
The modernization effort builds on previous infrastructure improvements. Earlier this year, Governor Brad Little celebrated the company's completion of a project that replaced century-old canal infrastructure with more efficient pressurized pipelines south of Buhl.
"This modernizes literally century-old infrastructure that we needed to update so we can be more efficient with our finite water supply in the state of Idaho," Little said.
A third component of the grant funding will create aquifer recharge areas to further enhance water conservation efforts.
"You know we are always looking at ways to do the best we can we try to do the right thing for the right reason and of course that often cost a lot of money so the resource board has been very generous with us through the years," Barlogi said.
Work on the projects is expected to begin after the irrigation season ends between October 15 and October 20.
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