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Idaho Group Heading to D.C. to Discuss Water Storage Opportunities Including Teton Dam by Brad Carlson Idaho Business Review, November 12, 2025

Exploring opportunities to increase Upper Snake River water storage capacity -- including possible reconstruction of Teton Dam, which failed nearly 50 years ago -- is the focus of a recent petition and planned meetings with members of Idaho's congressional delegation.

State Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, Nov. 17, and with Rep. Russ Fulcher and Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (all R-Idaho) Nov. 18.

Cook was a sponsor of Senate Joint Memorial 101, which the Idaho Legislature passed this year. The non-binding memorial urges federal and state agencies to study and develop additional water storage solutions including potential reconstruction of Teton Dam.

SJM 101 calls on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Idaho Department of Water resources and other agencies to work together in updating previous studies and exploring new water storage projects, according to the memorial's purpose statement. The memorial aims to "ensure long-term water security for agriculture, communities and economic growth" and "help to address drought, population growth and future water demands while also supporting hydropower production and recreational opportunities."

Potential projects in addition to rebuilding Teton Dam include enlarging Minidoka, Twin Springs, Galloway and Lost Valley dams, and Jackson Lake Dam in Wyoming, which is the farthest upstream of the Upper Snake River dams, according to the memorial text. Additional water storage on the Eastern Snake Plain in Idaho "continues to be a priority to help address extended periods of drought, population growth and other demands associated with limited water resources."

The petition asks members of Idaho's congressional delegation to support SJM 101.

"We recognize that federal water projects are large-scale efforts," according to the petition letter at keepidahowater.com. "Increasing the capacity of our current Idaho reservoirs and building new reservoirs may take 10 to 20 years to complete. But if we delay even starting the process, those same 10 to 20 years will still pass -- only we'll be further behind, with higher costs and greater consequences. Now is the time to act."

With current federal discussions on infrastructure and Western water management underway, "there is no better time to begin this effort," according to the letter. "A coordinated approach now -- starting with updated studies and collaborative planning -- will ensure that Idaho's water future is strong, secure and sustainable for generations to come."

More than 5,000 people had signed the petition as of early Nov. 11, Cook said in an interview. He hoped to have 6,000 ahead of his trip to Washington, D.C. -- on which he expects to be joined by about 30 other people including legislators, agriculture producers, irrigators and Farm Bureau representatives.

One hoped-for outcome of the meetings is that members of Idaho's congressional delegation know that the idea to explore additional water storage -- whether Teton or other projects -- has significant support in Idaho, Cook said.

While reaching a systemwide capacity expansion goal will take decades and federal support -- from funding to project approvals -- would be needed, planning for additional water storage should start immediately, he said. "We just want to put it in the project line and keep pushing."

Broadly, advocates divide expansion opportunities into raising dams, building storage in smaller locations to suit local needs and conditions, and building big projects such as Teton, Cook said.

Teton Dam, on the Teton River in southeast Idaho, failed on June 5, 1976. Sugar City, Rexburg and Wilford "were battered by the trees, houses, cattle and cars carried by the floodwaters," according to a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation webpage on the dam's history. "In the end, 11 people died and there was millions of dollars in property damage."

The Idaho Water Resource Board in an Oct. 14 letter to Reclamation's Boise-based Columbia-Pacific Northwest acting regional director Roland Springer proposes to partner with Reclamation to complete a study of the Upper Snake through the bureau's WaterSMART Basin Study program.

IWRB "is collaborating with a broad coalition of Idaho stakeholders to support this effort and related initiatives to address the water supply challenges in the Basin and Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer," according to the letter. The proposed study area encompasses the Snake River Basin above Milner Dam -- including the main Snake and all tributary basins upstream of Milner -- and the entirety of the ESPA to its western, downstream end at King Hill.