Given the vagaries of government funding processes and general bureaucracy, your support is still needed and valuable. We regularly submit additional signatures to IDWR as addenda to the petition.

Original December 2005 Petition & Signature Link

Anyone who has followed the activities of NACFA, from its formation to the present, knows that our number one concern related to the explosive growth occurring in North Ada County is potential adverse impacts on our groundwater supply.  Many NACFA members rely on wells.  Many new development proposals in the area also wish to tap into groundwater.  We have found, however, that knowledge about the carrying capacity of local aquifers is lacking.  Thus, we are petitioning the Idaho Department of Water Resources to do (or require developers to do) the appropriate studies of aquifer characteristics and carrying capacity in North Ada County and to establish a groundwater budget for the area.  We believe this is the only way to prevent over-allocation and to ensure that existing groundwater users are not "collateral damage" in the wake of new development.

Any and all residents of the area who share our concern and are willing to show that concern by joining our petition may do so by contacting David Head.

A PETITION TO THE IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

We, the undersigned residents of North Ada County, submit to IDWR the following:

1. Growth in North Ada County, in fact the entire Treasure Valley, has exploded over the past several years.  This growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future at a pace which strains resources and infrastructure.

2. Water is the single most critical resource necessary to support this growth.

3. Large developments, involving thousands of new homes and tens of thousands of acres, have been and are being proposed in North Ada County, both on the valley floor and northerly into the foothills. 

4. These new developments will rely on groundwater drawn from the northern/northeastern part of the broader Treasure Valley aquifer and from adjacent, perhaps interconnected aquifers in the north foothills. 

5 The characteristics of the "aquifer complex" in North Ada County are not well known and no carrying capacity has been established against which the long term viability of supply to new developments can be judged.

6. State of the art groundwater modeling and water budget analysis is needed in North Ada County (and perhaps other areas of the Treasure Valley) in order to avoid over-allocation and repetition of the types of groundwater problems extant in Snake River Plain aquifer and in the Mountain Home region.  With this information, IDWR?s ability to evaluate applications for new water rights/permits would be improved immeasurably and IDWR would be better able to fulfill its mandate of effective water supply management.

ACCORDINGLY, WE JOIN THE NORTH ADA COUNTY FOOTHILLS ASSOCIATION IN URGING IDWR TO:

Immediately begin appropriate technical study of aquifers in North Ada County, especially the area around Eagle and Star and the foothills to the north, to establish the likely carrying capacity of those aquifers

Develop and enforce appropriate water budgets for this area through the water right/permit application process to ensure that current residents do not face water shortages caused by growth and new developments

Declare a moratorium in this area on new municipal and community water developments until water resource carrying capacities and water budgets are developed.