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New subdivision may cut water for Idaho college's fish hatchery 1/15/2007 TWIN FALLS (AP) A college-operated fish hatchery that raises white sturgeon for the Snake River while giving students hands-on experience in aquaculture could see its water source dry up. The College of Southern Idaho’s hatchery gets its water from drains on land in nearby Rock Creek Canyon. But the Twin Falls City Council recently approved a 110-lot subdivision to be built on that land. City attorney Fritz Wonderlich said the drain pipes were installed not for the hatchery, but to prevent water from accumulating in the area. The hatchery does have water rights to the area, but school officials are concerned how that will play out with the new subdivision. “I don’t know exactly how it will impact us, yet,” Terry Patterson, a professor of fisheries who has taught at the hatchery for 28 years, told The Times-News. “I guess we will just have to wait and see.” Besides concerns about a decrease in the amount of water, the hatchery could also see a decline in water quality. Much of the water the hatchery gets now seeps through soil and rock and arrives with a naturally regulated temperature. The hatchery does research on Snake River sturgeon, which can top 100 pounds and are popular with anglers. More than 7,000 white sturgeon tagged with microchips to track their movements have been released by the hatchery. The chip tells biologists where the fish was hatched, and even the fish’s parents. The hatchery also raises about 500,000 trout a year that are released to ponds and streams. |
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