Washington's DOE is looking for a way to put more water into the Spokane Aquifer during the dry summer months. Researchers will study whether Washington could pipe water from Idaho's Lake Pend Orielle and inject it into the region's main source of drinking water. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports that it’s not clear whether Idaho will go for the idea.
(click on map to enlarge - courtesy of the US Geological Society)
This is a transcription of a radio report from the Northwest News Network.
Listen to the audio here.
SPOKANE - In the late summer, the flow of water in the Spokane River west of the Idaho state line slows to a trickle. That’s bad for the fish, of course, but it’s also not very pretty for the tourists.
So Ecology will hire Washington State University researchers to study how to get more water into the river in August and September. Ecology’s idea is to pump water from picturesque Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho.
The spring runoff would be injected into the Spokane aquifer in hopes that the water would eventually trickle down. Even if the scientists can make such a plan work, Washington hydrogeologist John Covert acknowledges tension between the two states about water issues could make the project a pipe dream.
John Covert: We’d have to figure out is the political will there and the financial resources and everything else to make it a reality.
An Idaho state water official says it’s too early to say how people on his side of the border will react to Washington’s study.
I’m Doug Nadvornick in Coeur d’Alene.
Links:
DOE's site on the Spokane Basin
Copyright 2009 Spokane Public Radio
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