Day Three

One of the questions we are to blog about today is, "Why is water management complex?"

One reason that might be surprising to the average citizen is that one agency doesn't control the entire process of acquiring and treating the water we use in the valley, and then treating it again as it leaves our homes, farms, and businesses as waste. There are many agencies that need to work together to manage this enormous task. There are many "stakeholders" as well, or, those who have a stake in the water supply here in the Treasure Valley. Water rights can be very complex as well.

We got to tour the Diversion Dam on the Boise River yesterday, which was an awesome experience! We learned that Diversion Dam is one of several dams that work as a system to control the flow of the Boise River into the Treasure Valley. Each dam is owned by a different government agency, and serves multiple purposes (power generation, flood control, irrigation diversion, and more). Multiple agencies coordinate to manage the different functions of this dam system. They must also coordinate with the city and county level water districts, irrigation districts, and large water rights holders. It's insanely complex, and there are a lot of jobs created by the water management system for the Boise River.