500 miles of canals will fill

BOISE -- The Treasure Valley is starting to green up on its own and now a lot more water is on the way. 

Irrigation managers began releasing water this morning from the Boise River into area canals. 

The water will be utilized by all kinds of people and places - from farmers to schools and businesses.

The beginning of this flow is a sign of warm weather ahead.

Near Barber Parker in the dark, morning hours, workers opened the gates that release 63,000 gallons of water per minute into the canal system.

“What we are doing is we are trying to energize our system. It's going to take about two weeks to bring it all the way through the Ridenbaugh Canal system and into our laterals," said John Anderson, district water superintendent.

The water is taken from the Boise River and diverted into the Ridenbaugh Canal.

It will fill close to 500 miles of canals in Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell.

The water will take a few days to reach its final destination -- Lake Lowell.

On its way water will be supplied to 69,000 acres of land.  But before it can reach the lake, lots of debris needs to be removed.

“A lot of it's thrown in. People use this as a trash can and they don't understand it.  It's big expense to get rid of it and taxes go up because of it," said Anderson.

Anderson says the water gets spread to more than 50,000 people.

"Parks, schools, cities, households for watering their grass and things - it's non-potable water.  Agriculture, of course. Businesses, we go through several business parks pretty much everybody uses it if we can get water to them," said Anderson.

It will take a few weeks for the clean up process to wrap up.

If the demand for irrigation water goes up over the summer months, they could potentially release more.

Irrigation managers also remind people to be safe around canals.  Water is fast and cold and poses a serious danger to children.

Canals are also private property and playing in, or around a canal, are considered trespassing under Idaho law.