Here’s why the water level in Jensen Grove is so low

BLACKFOOT — During a hot summer day this week, a fisherman stood on a small island in the lake in Jensen Grove Park. After he drew his line back in, he cast it again into the water.

But the island the fisherman stood on wasn’t there a couple of weeks ago. The lake’s water level significantly decreased in July after being full in June.

This has started to become normal for the lake as there’s been less water flowing through the Snake River.

“This isn’t a new thing,” said Wade Gardner, Blackfoot Parks and Recreation Superintendent. “It has been going on for several years.” He said that last year, the lake had this same problem.

Jensen Grove is supposed to be filled up by water from the Snake River that diverts down an inlet into the lake. That is why the lake was filled as much as it could be in June.

But by around June 27, the water level in the Snake River started to get lower until it dropped below the inlet. Over the next two weeks, the lake dropped until it was at the level it’s at now.

“I wish there was a lot more water. Fishing is still okay, but there is a lot of fish in here, and it’s pretty hard on them when it gets this low,” the fisherman said, declining to provide his name.

Keith Esplin, executive director of Eastern Idaho Water Rights Coalition, said that while it’s been a good water year, it hasn’t been enough to completely reverse the damage done by the drought in the American West that’s persisted for over two decades.

While the U.S. Drought Monitor shows it breaking in large parts of the west, Esplin said that the next years will show if the drought is actually breaking or if further water scarcity is ahead.

“We don’t know whether we go right back into that drought or whether it’s actually broke, but we’ve been part of that dry trend,” Esplin said. “We have been part of it, and the supply has been declining, and so we’ve had less extra (water).”

Esplin also explained water is being held in the Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoirs to make sure they have as much water storage as possible.

“They want to keep it up high because those are the hardest (reservoirs) to fill,” Esplin said. “Then you can always send water downstream when you need it.”

The city of Blackfoot wants people to know that they are not draining Jensen Grove and would much rather see it filled.

“We love our lake and the recreation it brings for the citizens of Blackfoot,” city officials said in a news release. “We wish there was a way to keep water year-round and keep the mud hidden underneath where it belongs!”

Mayor Marc Carroll said there isn’t anything the city can do to fill the lake if there isn’t water available.

“It just boils down to, if there’s not water in the river, we don’t get water to Jenson Grove,” said Carroll.

The city has also pointed out that water for agriculture gets prioritized over water for recreation.

“Sometimes our junior water rights get trumped by farmers who have senior water rights in drought years,” the release said.

Carroll said people have asked why the city can’t build a bigger diversion for the lake or dig a trench. He said that the river channel is about 500 yards.

“We have to work through the Army Corps of Engineers, but even if we dug the trench, it’s not going to get into the inlet,” Carroll said. The news release pointed out the Army Corps of Engineers would need to approve any changes, like building a bigger diversion, but they have not approved them.

There is some possibility that Jensen Grove could fill up or at least see a higher water level later in the summer. Gardener hopes that once farmers finish irrigating their fields, there could be more available water to fill the grove, but that’s out of the city’s control.