Part of the Solution: North Side Canal Company’s Recharge Activities
The Wilson Canyon recharge site.
N
orth Side Canal Company (NSCC), located in southern Idaho, supplies irrigation water to 160,000 acres of agricultural land and generates hydropower. Recently, its system has also become the site of recharge activities funded by the State of Idaho that seek to rehabilitate the Eastern Snake Plain aquifer (ESPA). In this interview, NSCC General Manager Alan Hansten tells Irrigation Leader about the hydrological and economic situation of the area and the importance of the recharge activities that are going on in the company. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
16 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2020
Irrigation Leader: Where does NSCC draw its water from? Alan Hansten: All of NSCC’s supply is classified as surface water from the Snake River. The headwaters of the Snake River are on the eastern side of the Teton Mountains, in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and the company is a joint spaceholder in Jackson Reservoir. The company has natural flow rights on the Snake River and storage rights in Palisades Reservoir and American Falls Reservoir. There are spring flows from the ESPA in the American Falls area that flow into the reservoir there and make up a portion of the natural flow water rights that NSCC has on the Snake River. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF NSCC.
Alan Hansten: I came to work for NSCC in 2009 as the assistant manager. Prior to that, I worked in engineering consulting. In 2013, I took over as the general manager of NSCC. NSCC supplies irrigation water to approximately 160,000 acres of farmland on the north side of the Snake River in southern Idaho. The company also generates
electricity through five hydroelectric power plants and sells it to Idaho Power Company. In addition, the company partners with the State of Idaho on groundwater recharge activities in an effort to sustain the ESPA. The company first diverted water from the Snake River for irrigation in 1908.
