JEROME - Magic Valley's water situation is bleak and will likely get worse before it gets better, a panel that included an engineer, water manager, politician and water users told about 50 people Tuesday night at a meeting in Jerome.

The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, the underground body of water that is the lifeblood of Magic Valley, is being drained faster than new water is going in, and if steps aren't taken to slow the decline, people will soon begin to lose access to water.

"We don't have an unlimited resource," said Chuck Brockway, who has studied the aquifer for decades. "And if we don't do something in the way of management, some of us won't be here in a few years."

About eight million acre feet - enough water to cover eight million acres in water a foot deep - moves each year through the aquifer, which stretches underground from Ashton to King Hill. Nearly a quarter of that is sucked out by groundwaterpumps belonging to cities,irrigators and industries.

Since 1950, when irrigators began tapping the aquifer with wells, levels have dropped by 50 feet, sparking legal battles over a dwindling resource. Storage capacity in the aquifer is falling by about a half-million acre feet each year, Brockway said.

That's prompted senior water-rights holders - those who claimed rights to water before more recent junior claimers - to call for well closures to affirm their rights and stem the decline.

Under the law, the state has no choice but to close wells to honor senior rights. Hundreds of thousands of acres could be dried up next spring if groundwater pumpers can't ensure senior users more water, a process called curtailment.

"The curtailment forecast is bleak," said Cindy Yenter, a watermaster for the state who implements state management plans. "This isn't the best news you've heard today.

"If we don't get enough snowpack this year, it's going to affect most of the aquifer," she said.

The state studied the aquifer through the Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan and a taskforce will suggest solutions to this year's Legislature. But Brockway said many of those solutions, which could put 100,000 acre feet of water back into the aquifer each year, will amount to only a drop in the bucket in an ocean-sized problem.

"What kind of dent can we make? Not much when you compare that with eight million acre feet going through the aquifer. But we have to do something. This isn't going to be solved next year," he said. "But we have to start now."

Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 and at matt.christensen@lee.net.