Idahoans Prepare For The End Of Lawn Watering

Welcome to the middle of June. Next week it will be the longest day of the year. Idahoans, who can afford one, are planning or on vacation. The news of the war in Iran ending has halted the rise in gas prices, and hopefully, the pain at the pump will be over soon.

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Do you remember the winter of 2025? If you don’t, it’s because we didn’t have a winter or any significant snowfall. The lack of snowfall means that we now have to deal with a soon-expiring snowpack.

The snowpack allows us to water our crops and lawns.

Those days appear to be over as our water crisis is beginning. (We hope there will be several massive rainstorms that save us; it doesn’t look good for the Gem State.)

We have heard and believe that one major Treasure Valley city will be announcing an end to water use for outdoor activity very soon. Once one city makes that declaration you can expect others to follow.

The simple reason is there isn't enough water to get the month of June let alone the entire summer watering season.

We've all seen the troubling signs of water shortages. Let's review the tapes, the first one from Capital Press:

"Unlike Oregon, conditions didn’t worsen in the past week, but they continued to be poor.

Drought covered 85.5% of Idaho, with another 14% abnormally dry.

Less than 1% of the state had no drought and dry status.

Nearly 7% of Idaho, in the southwest corner of the state, remained in exceptional drought, the highest category available on the map.

About 23.5% was in extreme drought, 24% was in exceptional drought and 31% was in moderate drought."

Idaho is in a very bad situation says the Idaho Capital Sun.

“Idaho is in a bad situation,” Idaho Surface Water Coalition Chairman Alan Hansten said in the announcement. “The snow never fell this past winter, so now we are dealing with one of the most challenging water years in generations, with the consequences already stacking up.”

We'll continue to update you on this story and hopefully will update you on when there's good news on this troubling issue.