When the river is low, the scene is dramatic: A 70-foot-long, 5-foot-tall jetty juts at a 45-degree angle into the Big Wood River, spanning all but 4 feet of the water and directing the flow into a headgate near the Gimlet subdivision south of Ketchum. The jetty was built in 2007 by the South Gimlet Water Users Association without obtaining the required stream-alteration permit from Blaine County.
Now the county Planning and Zoning Department is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the water users association to discuss whether the jetty should be allowed to stay.
The county issued a violation to the association in 2007 when the jetty was constructed, citing three regulations that the jetty violated. Not only was it built without a stream alteration permit, but it raised the 100-year flood level of the Big Wood River, the county said.
According to County Code Compliance Specialist Megan Stelma, the violations are notices to the association that it must work with the county to rectify the situation. The violation carries no civil or criminal charges. If the association were to refuse to discuss mitigation or removal of the jetty, the county could issue a citation, which can result in fines or jail time.
"We try to work with people the best we can," Stelma said, adding that citations are usually only issued when several violation letters have been ignored.
Craig Nalen, president of the association, said the jetty was built to maintain the river's flow into the headgate after the river altered its course.
"The jetty was constructed to enable us to get our water rights, which are valid," Nalen said.
Brett Stevenson, a former Blaine County planner and now central Idaho associate of the Idaho Conservation League, said, "You see this over and over. The river shifts, and all of a sudden you have a headgate that's high and dry."
But while South Gimlet has a right to exercise its water rights, the county is questioning the association's methods. The association applied retroactively for a stream-alteration permit in 2009, but review of the jetty's impact on the flood elevation has delayed the process.
In December, county engineer Jim Koonce reported that he had asked the association to reduce the size of the jetty to mitigate its impact on the flood elevation.
According to a November 2009 report from Twin Falls-based Brockway Engineering, if the jetty were lowered by 1.1 feet, the rise in the 100-year flood elevation would be less than 4 inches.
"It's a very minimal amount that would not increase the flood risk to anyone or any property," project manager Charles Brockway said.
But any rise is unacceptable according to county ordinance, partly because an increase in the base flood elevation could jeopardize the county's participation in FEMA's national flood insurance plan. The program provides flood insurance for communities that work with FEMA to manage area floodplains.
However, Mark Riebau, spokesman for FEMA Region 10's Flood Plain Management and Insurance Branch, said the county's regulations are stricter than FEMA's. FEMA allows for localized rises in base flood elevation, such as the one caused by the Gimlet jetty.
"We're not in a position to tell the county to give the applicant the permit," Riebau said, but to evaluate the jetty's impact and inform the county's decision.
He said the water users association has begun the legal process required to change the area's 100-year flood elevation so the jetty can be approved while assuring the county's continued participation in the flood insurance program.
Stelma said the county is waiting for a discussion among itself, FEMA and Brockway Engineering, which she said should occur by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, Nalen is keeping an eye on the river, waiting for low flow to determine whether the association's efforts have succeeded in diverting enough water to the headgate.
Since building the jetty, the association lowered the headgate by 2 feet and cleared debris from around the jetty and the gate—work that was completed with a stream-alteration permit.
"Every means of trying to get that water was and is being explored," he said. "The only way to exercise our water rights is to have some sort of means to obtain our legal water."
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
The jetty, shown here in October 2009, allows the water to rise and flow through a slightly upstream headgate, topped with an orange wheel. County staff reports that the jetty is 70 feet long and up to 15 feet wide. Photo by
