April 6, 2023
Contact: Amie Parris, Senior Water Quality Scientist, amie.parris@deq.idaho.gov
TWIN FALLS — The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is seeking a livestock and grazing representative and a hydropower representative to serve as voting members on the Middle Snake Watershed Advisory Group (WAG).
The Middle Snake WAG is a group of citizens from a diverse set of interests dedicated to successful restoration and protection of the health of the Middle Snake River between Milner Dam and King Hill. This area includes drainage from Rock Creek, Cedar Draw, Deep Creek, Mud Creek, Salmon Falls Creek, Clover Creek, and other smaller drainages. The area covers Jerome, Gooding, and Twin Falls Counties, from which the WAG seeks to have diverse representation.
Key WAG responsibilities are as follows:
- Advise DEQ on developing water quality improvement plans, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), for streams, lakes, and rivers with degraded water quality conditions within the watershed.
- Identify contributing pollution sources in the watershed.
- Recommend specific actions needed to effectively control sources of pollution to the water bodies.
- Help develop and implement a plan to meet water quality targets identified in the TMDLs.
The Middle Snake WAG meets monthly. Members are asked to serve at least two-year terms. Anyone interested in serving on the WAG as a representative of the above interest groups should contact Amie Parris, DEQ Twin Falls Regional Office, at amie.parris@deq.idaho.gov by 5 p.m., May 5, 2023.
The next WAG meeting is scheduled for April 12, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. at 650 Addison Avenue W, Suite 110, Twin Falls, Idaho. Anyone with questions or interest in joining the WAG is encouraged to attend.