Aquifer Recharge on the Snake River Plain located at ‘Wilson Canyon Basin’ – GW Response Mapping & Analysis, Dye & Temperature Tracing, Geology, and anecdotal information help explain the results of water quality sampling
Since the fall of 2019, a new recharge basin located a few miles Northeast of the City of Eden, Idaho has been used about every other year to divert water from the Snake River into the Basin to do aquifer recharge during the fall, winter, and spring. Groundwater level analysis shows response patterns to recharge events are vastly different in some wells and the results from dye and temperature tracing produced unexpected outcomes. Some interesting behavior in the data has been observed, so a deep dive into the collective body of information for Geologic formations, GW levels, dye trace, temperature trace and water quality results changes as well as anecdotal information has improved the understanding of hydrogeology in this area. Application of this analysis has resulted in an improved context for interpreting the results of water quality sampling. This presentation will focus on two recharge events occurring in spring of 2024 and the 2025-2026 season.
Neal Farmer has worked for 30 years in hydrogeology, landslides, and fossils from 11 years for the National Park Service and 19 years for the Idaho Department of Water Resources in the Aquifer Recharge Program. I grew up in Idaho and attended CSI, BSU and U of I with degrees in Associate of Arts, Associate of Applied Science in hydrology, Bachelor of Science in Geology and Master of Science in Hydrogeology.
Career Achievements include:
1997 – First discovery and subsequent publication of radioactive fossils at the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument which was a core justification used to procure funding for the new million $ fossil storage and preparation lab.
2008 thru 2026 – Successfully completed 24 groundwater traces on the lower East Snake Plain Aquifer.
2008 – Initiated, developed and manage the first Idaho Statewide geologic database using Rockware which now hosts 1,716 validated well drilling log entries across southern Idaho.
2009 – Initiated and co-developed with the companies Turner Designs and PME, to design a new style of dye tracing fluorometer (C-FLUOR Logger) that is capable of being deployed down wells and is available on the market.
2012 – Constructed the first digital 3-D Hydrogeologic Conceptual Model of the spring discharge area for the East Snake Plain aquifer.
2015 – Deployed the first telemetry devices in the State of Idaho for Groundwater Monitoring (photo) which has grown and now a commonly implemented practice.
2016 – Initiated the procurement, SOP development and usage of the first high vertical accuracy Trimble Geo7x cm edition GPS at IDWR.
2020 – Successfully completed a 32-mile groundwater trace in a basalt aquifer from MP31 Recharge Basin which is the first worldwide (Tom Aley, 2020, Ozark Underground Labs personal communication).
2024 – Developed and presented the first groundwater velocity map for the entire East Snake Plain aquifer.
Areas of interest and study are groundwater dye tracing, aquifer recharge and analysis, modeling, landslides, radioactive fossils and bowling.