The Treasure Valley’s irrigation system is getting a make-over, funded by federal grants and loans. The project will rehab six miles of canals on the Boise Bench, part of a 41 miles irrigation system that provides water to roughly 165,000 acres of farmland in the treasure valley.
The New York Irrigation District is receiving $50 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act and a $12.5 million loan from the Bureau of Reclamation.
The Boise Project Board of Control has been working on the canals roughly 400 feet at a time, when they’re not in use in winter. Project manager Bob Carter says the funding will accelerate the project, which should be completed in six years, instead of 50.
“That's going to help us move this process forward and get this done in approximately a mile a year by hiring an outside contractor that has a bigger workforce to do this,” he explained.
“We've been putting in a geocomposite membrane and then putting. Six inches of steel reinforced concrete on top of that so that it's virtually almost like building a half a pipe,” Carter added.
Perched above thousands of homes on the Boise Bench, the New York Canal was completed in 1909. Recently, the Bureau of Reclamation designated it as a “Urban Canal of Concern” because of its age and potential risk of leakage.
“It services over 1500 miles of other canals and laterals,” Carter said. “So it's very, very important to keep it in great shape.”
