College of Engineering/College of Agricultural and Life SciencesDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Historic Irrigation in the Snake River Plain, prior to 1900

ESHMC: Validation of the ESPAM2.0 Model, Historic Scenario Input

Outline

• Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900• Estimating Unregulated Flow• Modeling Irrigation in 1880-1900

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, 1955

Canal RATE TOTAL DATENeilsen-Hansen 12 12 1883New Lava Side 20 152 1884-1890Wearywick 3.2 53.36 1885-1889Watson Slough 58.4 132.4 1885-1888Peoples 7.6 424 1885-1894 (1898)Riverside 10 112.16 1885-1889Parson’s Ditch 0.8 23 1885-1888Fox-Whitten Ditch 1500 acre-feet 1885Corbett Slough 109.43 239.43 1889-1892Trego Ditch 64.41 69.41 1890-1902Danskin 100 180 1886-1888Snake River Valley-Cedar Point 200 600 1889-1896 (started 1884)Blackfoot Irrigation Company 366.6 1889Reservation Canal 15.98 615.98 1890-1891Aberdeen-Springfield 1250 1250 1895

Bingham County

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, 1955

Bonneville County

Canal DATESmith Canal 1879-1880Anderson Canal 1879-1880Idaho Canal 1891Idaho and Great Western Dam 1900Farmer’s Friend 1884Woodville Canal 1889Harrison Canal 1890Great Western 1891Porter Canal 1886New Sweden 1894Osgood 1904

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, 1955

Jefferson County

Canal DATERudy 1885Burgess Canal 1886 (1880)Butte and Market Lake 1881-1890North Rigby 1883Mattson Craig 1887-1900Buttler Island 1885Clark and Edwards 1887Parks and Lewisville 1883East Labelle Canal Company 1880-1885Island Irrigation Canal Company 1886Rigby Canal 1885Brush CanalWest Labelle Irrigation Company 1885Lowder and Jennings Canal 1890Independent 1895

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, 1955

Madison County

Canal DATERexburg Irrigation Company 1883Roxana Canal 1884Lyman-Consolidated Feeder 1886-1897Island Ward Canal 1901Reid Canal 1885Teton Irrigation Canal 1884Lenroot 1883Woodmansee-Johnson 1884Salem-Union 1892

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, 1955

Henry’s Fork and Falls River

Canal DATEEgin Irrigation Company 1885Chester 1887Curr 1887-1892Island Ward Canal 1901

Wood River50,000 acres prior to construction of the big projects

Estimating Irrigation prior to 1900

Sources:History of Irrigation Development in Idaho, Lewis, 1924Pioneer Irrigation, Upper Snake River Valley, Carter, 1955Irrigated Eden, Fiege 1999

Madison County

Findings1) Irrigation Started around 1879

2) Water Rights filed before actual diversions began

3) The ‘Panic of 93’ led to the end of irrigation expansion

4) Around 1900 sugar beet factories

Estimating Unregulated Flow

Source:Wise, Erika K. (2010). “Tree ring record of streamflow and drought in the upper Snake River.” Water Resources Research, vol. 46: W11529.

415-year Tree-Ring Record• Flow at Jackson Lake• Flow at Palisades• Flow at Heise

Estimating Unregulated Flow-Annual

Source:Wise, Erika K. (2010). “Tree ring record of streamflow and drought in the upper Snake River.” Water Resources Research, vol. 46: W11529.

19581962

19661970

19741978

19821986

19901994

19982002

0100000020000003000000400000050000006000000700000080000009000000

10000000

Reconstructed Observed

Acre

-feet

2000000 4000000 6000000 80000002000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

9000000

f(x) = 1.08329833192076 x − 418186.272790415R² = 0.664439223249115

Annual Flow at Heise (1958-2005)

Reconstructed (acre-feet)

Obs

erve

d (a

cre-

feet

)

Estimating Unregulated Flow-Monthly

Monthly Estimation Procedure1) Rank Years by Annual Flow (1928-1997)

2) Calculate Average Monthly Hydrograph per category

3) Calculate standard deviation per category

4) Fm = (Fa – Favga)/STDavga *STDavgm+Fmavg)

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Annaul

1 214.5 179.8 165.6 155.8 143.1 166.8 291.7 726.1 609 274.5 194.3 172.7 3293.9

2 235.3 200.8 179.6 171.4 152.1 170.6 328.4 728 961.5 439.7 258.6 204.1 4030.1

3 235.9 202.1 189.2 175.6 163.3 173.1 309.4 875.4 1084.5 495.9 273.1 230.2 4407.7

4 216.2 194.8 179.6 176 157.2 175.6 366.7 1110.3 1140.8 578.6 323 251.4 4870.2

5 220.1 191.1 182 172.5 156.9 175 387.8 1144.1 1332 705.2 333.8 253.8 5254.3

6 244.3 216.8 212.6 198.9 174.1 193.5 445.9 1225.7 1511 969.1 423.3 287.1 6102.3

7 269.1 246.3 236.8 222.7 190.7 248.2 481.2 1453.3 2021 962.6 453.1 329.7 7114.7Dec-1900Dec-1910Dec-1920Dec-1930Dec-1940Dec-1950Dec-1960Dec-1970Dec-1980Dec-1990Dec-2000

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Reconstructed Observed

Flow

(kaf

/mon

th)

Validater² = 0.82

Calibrater² = 0.80

Validater² = 0.87

Oct-1910 Jan-1912 Apr-1914 Jul-1916 Oct-1919 Jan-1921 Apr-1923 Jul-19250

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Snake River at Heise, ID

Reconstructed Flow Observed Flow

Flow

(kaf

/mon

th)

Oct-1880 Oct-1883 Oct-1886 Oct-1889 Oct-1892 Oct-1895 Oct-1898 Oct-1901 Oct-1904 Oct-1907 Oct-1910 Oct-1913 Oct-1916 Oct-1919 Oct-1922 Oct-19250

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Flow

(kaf

/mon

th)

Modeling Monthly Recharge 1880-1900

SD-SRPM (System Dynamics Snake River Planning Model)

Model Assumptions1) No minimum flow requirements

2) No reservoir storage

3) No groundwater pumping

4) Linear increase in irrigation demand from 1880-1900

5) 75% of current demand

0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240 264 288 312 336 360 384 408 432 456 480 504 528 552 5760

500

1,000

1,500

2,000kaf/month

Reac

h 49

Non-commercial use only!

Modeling Monthly Recharge 1880-1900

SD-SRPM (System Dynamics Snake River Planning Model)18

81

1890

1900

1910

1920

188018831887189018941897190119041908191119151918192219250

102030405060708090

100

Shor

tage

s (ka

f)

Modeling Monthly Recharge 1880-1900

SD-SRPM (System Dynamics Snake River Planning Model)

Findings1) Correctly identify historic shortages between 1900-1905

2) Irrigation induced ESPA discharge (≈ 5 kaf) below Milner

3) Irrigation impact constant below Milner

Some Thoughts

How to validate1) SD-SRPM allows estimation of monthly recharge

2) Should validation be at a monthly timestep?

3) Possible uses of a Systems Model for ESHCM & IDWR• Estimate Recharge (historic-availability)• Estimate Recharge (land-use changes)

Questions?