BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Some wells in Southwest Boise are drying up. It's not because of the hot dry summers, but in part because of development in the Boise area.
Steve and Kara Nadeau's well has already gone dry once, and they worry it's only going to get worse.
“It's not endless," said Kara Nadeau.
The Boise area and the state, in general, rely heavily on wells - water from underground aquifers that are primarily recharged by canals and flood irrigation farmers use.
“The groundwater makes up about 95 percent of our drinking water,” Dennis Owsley, who monitors wells for the Idaho Department of Water Resources, said.
But as agriculture is pushed aside by development, less water seeps into those aquifers.
"Even if we connect to city water down the road, what's going to happen? I mean, maybe they’re going to not have water in the future even for the city, or they're going to have to put controls on that,” said Kara.
The Nadeau's 100-foot deep well near Maple Grove and Highlander dried up for the first time in April, and it stayed that way for over a month.
“Anybody that goes without water realizes how much water you use on a daily basis and how critical it is to everything that you do," Steve said.
Eventually the well started producing again and they were able to irrigate their pasture.
"Everybody here in the neighborhood saw what was happening to us, so yeah, they’re kind of nervous," Kara said.
And it's not just one neighborhood.
"It's square miles worth of residential development," Dennis Owsley with the Idaho Department of Water Resources said.
"Once the irrigation stops in the New York canal, and we aren't irrigating our pasture, we don’t have a clue how long we’re going to have water," Kara said.
What was once farmland is now subdivisions.
"Well all around us was corn and alfalfa when we came in, all around this subdivision on both sides,” Steve said. He and his wife moved into their home 20 years ago, and it was built in the 70's.
The photos below show just how much growth has happened over the last several decades in Southwest Boise.
“The unlimited growth, that’s the mentality of a cancer cell and that’s not what we should be looking at," Steve said.
According to data tracked by Water Resources, the groundwater levels are falling about a foot per year in Southwest Boise.
"If you only have ten feet of water in your well left, you have ten years, ten to twenty years of life of your well left if the rates continue at the rate they are," Owsley said.
He says folks can drill deeper - an expensive proposition, or they can connect to city water - also an expensive proposition.
Drilling deeper could cost $30,000 to $40,000 or more, and hooking up to city water would take buy in from neighbors. Even with several neighbors agreeing to hook up to city water together, it could cost tens of thousands per neighbor.
Drilling deeper is not something you can have happen overnight. Steve says he's been told by well drilling companies they have waitlists of six months to a year.
Steve says smarter and more responsible development is what our community really needs.
“We should be asking our politicians and so forth about what their plans are for the future of Boise, besides just putting more homes and homes and homes, what are they going to do to preserve and protect our water resources,” Steve said.
Owsley says for now, based on the data he's tracking, there should be enough water in the aquifers for our community. That answer doesn't really help those with shallow wells that are coming up dry today.
"At this current state, I'd say we're okay. Knock on wood that it continues that way," Owsley said. "It is kind of scary to see the growth in this valley happening so quickly, but there's been some studies done that have forecasted that we can handle the growth, the water supplies can handle the growth, as long as it's properly developed and planned out ahead of time."
Other neighbors in Southwest Boise say they’re hoping to push local leaders to keep some of the former agricultural land from becoming developments. Owsley says more green open spaces would certainly help.
He says counties and cities could also put limitations on the drilling of new individual wells, saying community style wells are a much better route.
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