Glad to be in hot water : geothermal development in Boise, Idaho, 1890-1983

              glad to be
in hot water 
Geothermal Development in Boise, Idaho, 1890-1983
The Boise Natatorium, 1892·1934
(see page 4)
by
Dean Worbois
$2.91
glad to be
in hot water
Geothermal Development in Boise, Idaho, 1890-1983
by
Dean M. Worbois
The world's
.
first community geothermal space heating came about
as an offensive in an economic war. The standard-bearers were mono·
poly and competetion and the field was water service for a growing
settlement called Boise in the Territory of Idaho.
Printed by Parker Printing Company
©copyright, 1982, by Dean Worbois. All rights reserved.
1809 N. 9th St., Boise, Idaho 83702
Cover photo courtesy of Idaho Historical Society
1890: Boise & The Water War
On June 1, 1890, the United States cen­sus
was taken. On September 19th, the
City's Board of Trade prepared a signed
registry. During these 111 days, Boise had
grown from 2,500 to 4,026 inhabitants. Set­tlers
were attracted to Boise by stage
coach manufacturing, major irrigation canal
construction, homesteading, a substantial
city building boom at the advent of becom­ing
the new capitol city of a new state, and
by Boise being a popular camping spot for
large numbers of Oregon Trail emigration
wagons.
Settlement had begun at this con­fluence
of the gold mines of the Boise
Basin and the Oregon Trail just 27 years
before. Irrigation systems, electric power,
telephone, telegraph, and the Union Pacific
Railway were already serving the communi­ty
by 1890. Preparation was underway for a
trolley system. Yet the community was
without a water system.
For some years the Overland Hotel had
been offering a limited water service to
their neighbors from springs in Hull's Gulch
a mile north of the city. Ha'!i􀁹􇥧g received city
permission to lay pipeline in streets the
year before, the owners of the hotel sank
three wells in the spring of 1890 in Hull's
Gulch. When these wells produced an arte­sian
flow of 800,000 gallons of cold water a
day from a depth of 20 feet, the Overland
Hotel owners announced the development
of a system that would serve the entire city.
The announced rate of $3.00 per faucet per
month was the same being charged the
hotel's neighbors.
Another pioneer Boise merchant con­sidered
three dollars a month exorbitant
and used his property in Hull's Gulch to
persuade other prominent citizens to in­corporate
the Artesian Water and Land Im­provement
Company. This was accom­plished
on June 2, 1890. On June 23rd, the
1
Overland Hotel proprietors Incorporated the
Boise Water Works. Within days, the
Artesian Company brought In its first wells
and the battle was on.
From the beginning, the Water Works
had advocated monopoly as the best way to
serve the city's needs. With two competing
water companies, the streets were
reopened as soon as they had been leveled
by the first construction crew. Litigation
over right-of-way and damage to opposition
pipe and excavation ran rampant.
Looking at these inconveniences and
expenses, one can well imagine that the
forces of monopoly drew some sympathy.
Sympathy was not the only object of the
Water Works, however, and some
customers were drawn as well. Free water
was offered until 1892 to those good citi­zens
who contracted for Boise Water Works
service.
Enjoying the zeal with which Congress
was adopting the Sherman Anti-Trust Act,
the Artesian Company came out swinging.
Lacking the resources of the Water Works,
the Artesians wooed customers with the
promise of long-term reasonable rates
assured by competition. The City Council
agreed to the extent of signing with both
companies for the greatly desired fire con·
tract. Realizing that the Water Works' low
bid was a one-year offer to secure the fire
contract, the City commissioned 30 hy­drants
from the Water Works for $8.00 each
and 20 hydrants from Artesian Water for
$25.00 each.
"Hatred and strife" were reported
being rampant in The Idaho Statesm_an
newspaper on March 29, 1891. Public dis­plays
of one system's or the other's ample
quantity and pressure became weekend
circuses for the townfolk. The need for a
decisive victory became apparent to those
promoting the sanity of monopoly.
1891:
Hot Water, Victory & Decisions
Near the Territorial Penitentiary two and
a half miles to the east of Boise was a tract
of land kept swampy by the seepage of hot
water. In 1890 Boise Water Works Investors
W.H. Rldenbaugh, Hosea B. Eastman,
Timothy Regan, and J.W. Cunningham saw
a potential for mastery in the water race by
expanding their service to include hot water
delivery.
The Water Works began drilling before
Christmas, 1890. By December 27, at 112
feet, the 112 degree Fahrenheit1 artesian
water was flowing at such a rate that it got
in the way of drilling. On January 22, 1891,
the artesian pressure caused the failure of
the light drilling rig. A heavier rig pushed on
to 400 feet, where, on January 24th, drilling
was stopped at the discovery of a reported
"tremendous flow."
ANALYSIS OF
Natural Hot Water
MADE BY C.F. CHANDLER, PH.D.,
C.E. PELLEW, E.M., OF NEW YORK
Chloride of Sodium............. 0.9567
Sulphate of Potassa. . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.5938
Sulphate of Soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5071
Bicarbonate of Ammonia ........ (Traces)
Bicarbonate of Lithia . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0793
Bicarbonate of Soda ... .. ..... . . 10.4109
Bicarbonate of Lime. . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4606
Bicarbonate of Magnesia........ 0.0383
Phosphate of Soda .............. (Traces)
Oxide of Iron and Alumina...... 0.0916
Silica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.9248
Organic and Volatile Matter. . . . . 1.6328
TOTAL ............ . .. ...... 19.6959
Temperature at Wells: 172 Degrees Fah.
THE NATATORIUM COMPANY
By mid-March of 1891, a second well at
a depth of 404 feet brought the total flow to
exceed 800,000 gallons a day of 170 degree
water. Careful chemical tests of the water
by the United States Department of Agri­culture
proved the water to be suitable for
domestic consumption2• With this pure and
generous resource, the Water Works went
forward with plans for a spa and a com­munity
hot water system.
The benefit of monopoly was con­ceded
and the Boise Water Works absorbed
the Artesian Water and Land Improvement
Company two shares to one on March 28,
1891. The new company, the Artesian Hot
and Cold Water Company, began buying
land on the end of Warm Springs Road for a
spa two miles east of the city.
City elections were held in July of
1891. The board members of the water and
trolley companies, largely the same
persons, had formed a new Citizen's Party
to oppose the traditionally strong Republi­cans
and minority Democrats. Outcries that
uncontrolled water fees would be the result
of having the same people running both the
city's government and the city's mono­polies
were regularly published in the
Republicans' Statesman newspaper. Before
the election, the water fee was set at $1.00
per faucet, rather than $3.00, and the
Citizen's Party was elected into every city
office of the new capital of Idaho. One new­comer
to the area on the Republican ticket
for City Attorney was the only challenger
getting near being elected and Borah High
School in Boise now commemorates W.'E.
Borah's subsequent political success in the
United States Senate.
Despite this initial landslide, the
Citizen's Party proved not to be nearly as
permanent a feature of Boise life as the
geothermal system these men were
building.
1. All temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit. All other footnotes are on page 13.
2
The Boise Water Works Geo·
thermal Well House (photo·
graphed In 1980) Is now listed
In the National Register of
Historic Buildings. The well
house was constructed by
cutting off the original well
de11/cks and nailing boards to
the f11me.
3
1892: The Natatoriunt
The original hot water line was wooden,
chosen for its insulating properties.
Resembling tubular barrels, wooden pipe
was fairly common at the time and had pre­viously
been used by Helena architect John
C. Paulsen at the Helena Natatorium in
Montana. The wooden mainline was
extended over two miles under Warm
Springs Road, from the wells near the peni­tentiary
into town.
The commercial success of spas using
natural hot water had been proven at least
since the Roman Empire. The Artesian Hot
and Cold Water Company wasted no time
hiring architect Paulson, who had designed
mansions for several of the company's
owners, to design the Boise Natatorium.
The Natatorium Swimming Pool In the 1920's.
4
The "Nat" opened May 25, 1892, and
established itself as a Northwest show­piece.
Covering 15,000 square feet with
Moorish towers and arches, the Natatori­um's
three floors offered fifty bath and
dressing rooms, a dancing and roller skat­ing
balcony, various parlors, billiard and
card rooms, a dining room and a cafe. The
company's $100,000 investment assured the
finest of fixings and accommodations, in­cluding
electric ranges for those hosting a
party. The 65 x 125 foot pool was one of the
largest indoor pools in the United States.
For such grand events as inaugurations,
the pool was drained, supports were in­stalled,
and a portable floor converted the
plunge into a ballroom.
Photo courtesy of Idaho Historical Society
The Natatorium Dining
Room, 1909.
Note: The cover photograph
of the Natatorium was
taken in 1895.
Photo courtesy of the Idaho
Historical Society.
1892: Warm Springs Road
From the Natatorium into town the
Artesian Company invested $20,000 in a
system with no precedent. Construction
setbacks and unexpected operational ex­penses
pushed up the company's
investment. The water supply, both in tem­purature
and volume, was untested. The
project's detractors ridiculed a community
hot water system even being attempted.
The C.W. Moore estate In 1982.
5
But attempted it was and In 1891 the
immediate problem was selling the idea.
The Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company
needed a showplace, and what better show­place
than the Company President's new
mansion on Warm Springs Road?
C.W. Moore was a founder of the First
National Bank of Idaho and President of the
Artesian Company. His next-door neighbor
was H.B. Eastman of the Overland Hotel.
These two homes had the new heating sys­tem
installed in January of 1892. Both were
warm through February and March without
the soot and shoveling of coal. Lavish
social functions at these gentlemen's new
homes spread their enthusiasm for geother­mal
heat throughout the city.
A flat rate of $2.00 a month was es­tablished
as the cost for heating and pro­viding
domestic hot water to a smaller
home of eight rooms or less. Larger homes
were charged up to $3.00 a month while.the
rest of the city was paying $7.00 to $8.00 a
ton for coal.
A trolley line was constructed from
downtown to the Natatorium and Warm
Springs Road became an Avenue. With easy
access to the city on the west and to the
community's playground on the east, and
featuring inexpensive heat, this two-mile
stretch of Boise's east end was well estab­lished
as the city's most desired neighbor­hood.
1900-1970: Use & Decline
White City, an amusement park featur·
ing a scenic railroad, a large roller coaster,
a dancing and roller skating pavilion, and
arcades, was constructed on the Nata­torium's
front lawn. Natatorium Coffee
became a popular item at the neighborhood
groceries about the valley.·
Girl's and boy's swimsuits crept above
the knee and the "Nat" survived parents'
wondering if swimming was a sport for their
decent daughters.
After 40 years, however, the pool's
steam caused rotting of the structure's
timbers that the Boise Natatorium could
not survive. In 1934, a twenty-six mile an
hour gust during a thunderstorm blew in
part of the roof. The building was declared
unsafe and the structure was dismantled.
Today, the pool serves as a municipal
cold water plunge. Behind the plunge, a
new, green-tubed water slide is proving
popular. White City's grounds are now the
site of a grade school and the Natatorium
Trolley Terminal is a cafe.
Despite the Nat's demise, the Nata­torium
Company did keep the nine miles of
steel distribution pipe it had acquired from
the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company.
This system was subsequently acquired by
the Boise Water Corporation and given to
the Boise Warm Springs Water District. By
1958, this system was serving 244 cus­tomers
at an average residential heating
and tap hot water cost of $200 per year per
home.3
The El Paso Natural Gas line brought
natural gas service to Boise in 1956. During
this ·time, Idaho Power Company was great·
ly increasing its generating capacity with
the Hell's Canyon series of three hydro­electric
dams. From the late 1950s through
the 1960s, abundant and inexpensive gas
and electrical energy were actively
promoted for space heating with the notice­able
effect of Boise's air clearing of coal
smoke. Meanwhile, the geothermal system
had not been expanded nor promoted and
by 1970, geothermal space heating in Boise
had decreased to 200 homes and a dozen
businesses.
The energy crisis of the mid-seventies
took care of that. Natural gas prices rose
dramatically as the federal government
tried to encourage exploration. At the same
time, the power company outpaced its hy­droelectric
capacity and began passing on
the cost of expensive coal-fired generating
plants. And, at the same time, OPEC
caused the federal government to make
funds available for exploration and devel­opment
of energy alternatives.
The Idaho State Health Laboratory on Penitentiary Road
6
1970-1983: The State System
As with any capital city, one of the
largest space heaters in the City of Boise is
state government. In the early 1970s, the
State of Idaho was agressively expanding
the downtown Capital Mall to a projected
500,000 square feet. Heating costs threat­ened
the state's ability to maintain the
mall. In March of 1974, Cecil Andrus, then
Governor, requested a U.S. Energy and
Development Administration study of
Boise's geothermal resources. The final re­port
in April of 1976 recommended a pilot
project. The State Health Laboratory on
Penitentiary Road near the existing Warm
Springs wells was retrofited to geothermal
heat by autumn of 1977.
The Health Laboratory
This 40,000 square foot biological la­boratory
requires 100 percent fresh air
heated to a constant temperature of 70
degrees. A plate heat exchanger measuring
83 cubic feet extracts up to eight million
btu per hour from the 165 degree geother­mal
water. From the heat exchanger, a
closed-loop system using the laboratory's
previous 900 cubic foot gas boiler as a
back-up circulates the extracted heat
through the building. The state's contract
with the Boise Warm Springs Water Dis­trict
agrees to purchase hot water at 40
cents per 100 cubic feet.
Preliminary tests ran from January
through April of 1978 and indicated a
savings of over 60 percent on cost of fuel
for the state health laboratory. Actual dollar
figures were: 1977 gas system, January
through April, $12,788.00; 1978 geothermal
system, $3,366.00. 1978 was a slightly
milder winter than 1977. A substantial re­duction
in maintenance and operational ex­penses
associated with the gas boiler was
also noted.
The Health Laboratory's retrofit was a
$120,000 project, of which $80,200 were
costs inherant in a pilot project (including a
discharge system, cooling ponds, and long
7
lead pipes) that would not be features of a
concentrated system serving many
buildings.
But no system is without its problems.
About every month, the water meter was
literally being cooked beyond use by the
170 degree water at Warm Springs' supply
main. This problem has not recurred since
September 22, 1980, when the meter was
placed on the discharge side of the ex­changer.
The other major problem with the
Health Laboratory's geothermal heating
system has been the State's interruptable
contract with the Boise Warm Springs
Water District. The District's shallow wells
are susceptable to draw down during
periods of extended cold. Because the la­boratory
has a back-up heating system,
geothermal water is sent down line to the
residences that rely solely on the water
district tor heat. During January and
February of 1982, this interruptable service
required the State to heat with gas for 17
days with a fuel bill of $6,336.46. The geo­thermal
bill for the remaining 42 days of
January and February was $2, 761.50. On
back-to-back single days of similar temper­ature,
the State paid $480.00 for gas heat,
and $80.00 for geothermal.
Adding more plates to the heat ex­changer
at $133.00 each and bringing on
line a state well already in place at the
penitentiary site are avenues being studied
to ensure that all of the laboratory's
heating needs are supplied by geothermal
water.
Maintenance Department Superinten­dant,
Wes Stucker, dismantled the labora­tory's
heat exchanger two years ago to
check on how the stainless steel plates
were holding up. A bit of sand was found
and he intends to recheck the plates in the
summer of 1982. Otherwise, the system has
received no maintenance in its four years of
service.4
The Capitol Mall
With the success of geothermal heat at
the Health Laboratory, the State of Idaho
began implementing its plans to heat the
Capitol Mall in 1979. With the help of
Emery Hedl.und, Chairman of the Perma­nent
Building Fund, the envisioned project
received financing from the Legislature. The
Idaho Office of Energy, Division of Public
Works and the Department of Administra­tion.
An eight-inch diameter well was drilled
in October, 1980, and completed in January,
1981, when 153 degree water with an arte­sian
flow of 200 gallons per minute was
tapped at 2,150 feet. Sustained pumping
proved the well capable of producing 750
gallons per minute, sufficient to provide the
mall's heating needs and representing a
$170,000 annual savings for the state.
Something needed to be done with the
used water and a reinjection well was de­cided
to be the best answer. Drilling the
second well began in June, 1981, some five
blocks from the first well. Although local
residents felt most unfortunate about the
day-and-night drilling, a very fortunate
property of this well was discovered at
3,030 feet. The artesian pressure was so
great that a pump was not only unneces­sary,
but its fittings would have been
damaged if the state had attempted to in­stall
one.
To test this new resource, the well was
allowed to run freely. The 960 gallons per
minute artesian flow gradually decreased
during the first day. The 160 degree water
flowing to city drains further inconveni­enced
residents by raising so much steam
The Stete of Idaho production well with the Capitol Building framed by two State office buildings.
Tests In August, 1981, proved this resource to run 810 gallons per minute artesian flow at 160 degrees.
8
on the cool August mornings that no one
could see to drive. By the second day, the
artesian flow had fallen to 810 gallons per
minute where it remained for 48 hours.
With this sustained flow from the
second well, the State threw out its requisi­tion
for an expensive submersable lift pump
as well as its expected electrical costs for
lifting the geothermal water. The second
well was established as the Capitol Mall's
production well using the first well for re­injection.
Because artesian pressure is
dependent on atmospheric pressure, a
small pump to regulate the 30 to 40 pounds
pressure needed to control the mall's
system is being installed at the production
well head.
Dedication ceremonies for the wells
and ground breaking for the State's piping
system were presided over by Governor
John Evans on March 10, 1982. One street
is to be excavated, bringing the water to the
State's utility tunnel for distribution to the
mall buildings. Buildings Included in the
retrofit program include most of the 128,000
square foot Capitol, the State Supreme
Court, the State library, and six office
complexes with provisions for three pro­posed
buildings.
About ten percent of the Capitol Mall's
heat is provided by furnaces not economi­cally
accessable to geothermal retrofit. An
example are the heaters mounted in the ro­tunda
over the House and Senate chambers
in the Capitol Building. Otherwise, the
$1,925,000 system will provide all of the
mall's heat. Fuel savings are expected to
pay for the system in 9.1 years figuring a
conservative 8.5 percent increase in gas
rates and not taking into account
maintenance savings.
Given geothermal's off-the-shelf tech­nology,
the State of Idaho expects to be
heating its Capitol Mall with natural hot
water in the winter of 1982-83.5
State of Idaho Capitol Mall Geothermal Piping Plan
- Delivery Pipe
- - Collection Pipe
State Street
(This diagram is not meant as a specific pipe map.)
Production
Well 1􀀃􀌱1 I.C:
'co
Ada
County
9
Ill
10
Ill
..,. Marion
Hall
P7􀀘􁠀􀀙􁤠
􀀃􀌭-
r
􀀂􀉥einjection
Well
I
,- - 􀀍􀴭-> _ j
I Proposed I
I..- -_I
1970-1983: Boise Geothermal
While the energy crunch of the seven­ties
encouraged the State of Idaho to see in
geothermal a potential for economically
heating its Capitol Mall, Boise City saw in
geothermal an economic advantage for its
downtown regional shopping center project.
The advantage to citizens would be two­fold:
indirectly in lower retail prices reflect­ing
lower heating costs in the mall and
downtown shops; and, directly in the form
of lower heating costs for those citizens
living along the distribution system and in­stalling
geothermal heat.
After preliminary attempts to interest
private developers failed, the City's Energy
Office accepted geothermal expansion as a
primary function.
In 1974, the Boise Warm Springs Water
District was franchised by the State to
operate the Natatorium Company's aging
system as a non-profit water district. In
1979, the Boise Warm Springs Water
District and City of Boise created a new
office called Boise Geothermal under a
working relationship to develop geothermal
energy for space heating.
The City System
Utilizing Federal Department of Energy
Grants, several sites were analyzed for the
City of Boise's system. Emphasis was
'placed, on Camel's Back Park at Hull's
Gul<(h a mile to the north of the city and at
the federal Military Reserve Park on Cotton­wood
Creek a half-mile to the northeast of
town.
The city's Park Department had reser­vations
about allowing construction in
Camel's Back Park. At the same time, the
city, through assistance from the Federal
Department of Energy and Senators Frank
Church, D-ldaho, and James McClure, A­Idaho,
had purchased drilling sites In
Military Reserve Park. This site was chosen
for operational drilling.
Today there are six wells at Military
Reserve Park ranging from 800 to 2,300 feet
deep and delivering water at 165 to 170
degrees. Production capacity is being
tested, with one well flowing artesian at the
rate of 1,300 gallons per minute. The
resource is adequate to heat over two mil­lion
square feet on all but the coldest days
when large structures will use their existing
systems for back-up.
Boise City began laying a four-and-a­half
mile distribution system on July 6,
1982. Using insulated asbestos pipe, this
10
dual supply-and-collection system runs
$50.00 per foot to construct and is designed
to service the entire downtown area.
The city has contacted 140 buildings
along the seven million dollar system. Of
these, 110 are commercial and 30 are apart­ments,
duplexes, schools, community
centers, and individual homes. Ten
buildings have been established as too
costly to retrofit to geothermal heat.
The tentative contract with the custo­mers
refers to per-therm costs discounted
by 30 percent from the "price charged to
commercial users by the largest supplier of
natural gas in Idaho." Construction bids
below projections indicate that the Boise
Geothermal therm will run 30 to 40 percent
less than gas.
As of this writing in July, contracts
with 30 customers have been signed. Four
new office buildings are being designed for
geothermal heat. A 40 percent discounted
therm is attractive to several existing struc­tures
that have been hesitant to invest In
retrofit for a 30 percent discounted therm.
And some owners are simply waiting to see
the city's system in the ground before
undertaking the expense of studying retro­fit.
Retrofit for a typical 2,000 square foot
home costs $1 ,400.00. One jerry-rigged
system using car radiators has cost its
builder no more than a few hundred
dollars. Discounting state and federal tax
credits, a $1,400.00 conversion would cost
the homeowner $735.00. Fuel savings on
the 1,000 therms per year typically used
for residential heating in Boise would save
the homeowners enough to repay the
$735.00 retrofit costs in 2.78 years at
today's gas rates. Of course, the tendency
to add a greenhouse may lengthen the re­payment
period some.
Top right: A City of Boise Well at
Military Reserve Park being tested.
Above: Drilling at Military Reserve Park
overlooking the downtown area that will
be served by these four wells.
Right: Equipment and pipe In July,
1982, awaiting construction of the City
of Boise geothermal space heating
system.
11
(., 2 \ I 1 -
The Water District System
Boise Geothermal has not been so
busy building the Boise City system that it
has forgotten to improve the Boise Warm
Springs Water District system. This spring,
the district's aging and patched main lines
have been replaced with insulated asbestos
pipe. The new line is projected to save the
leaking system 200,000 to 400,000 gallons
of hot water each day while the insulated
pipe will serve to keep the water at a higher
temperature. It is estimated that 75 to 100
homes can be added to the original Nata­torium
system with this new line.6
Insulated asbestos pipe replaces the original
geothermal line beneath Warm Springs Avenue,
which was changed from wooden to steel pipe In
the early 1900's.
The Problem: Discharge
Ai peak use, the Boise Geothermal
systems will be discharging 4,000 gallons
of 100 degree water per minute. These peak
demands fall at the same time of the year
that the Boise River is running at its lowest.
Although chemically very pure, the geother­mal
water's flouride content requires a mix­ture
of one part geothermal to 22 parts river
water to meet environmental standards.
During the river's winter flow, this means
no more than 2,700 gallons per minute geo­thermal
discharge. Thermal pollution is
another problem Boise Geothermal faces
when discharging into this mountain
stream where city residents regularly fish
for trout in the center of the city.
Boise Geothermal is looking at many
desirable uses for the 100-degree spent
geothermal water from its systems. One is
to heat animal cages in the Boise zoo in
12
Julia Davis Park. Others include heating
an arboretum in the yet-to-be developed
Albertson Park, a systems display with
fountains and ponds at the same sight,
and such commercial uses as greenhouses
and aquatic farms.
For the winter of 1982-83, the Boise
Canal, which runs under the city, will be
used to hold overflow and to carry the
water to the Boise River at the Americana
Bridge.7
Boise Geothermal and the State of
Idaho are negotiating to combine their sys­tems.
The advantage would be to provide·
Boise Geothermal with an expanded sys­tem
and to let the State out of the utility
business. With these systems becoming
interconnected, Boise Geothermal will use
the State's two wells for reinjection.
And Beyond 1983 ...
The Boise Warm Springs Water Dis­trict,
the State of Idaho, and the City of
Boise have cooperated to run draw-down
tests on Boise's geothermal resource. A
minute drop of water level at some wells
showed up over a period of three days with
no flow or tel'lilpera.ture 􀀂􀈠 variation being
noted. These flow and temperature results
indicate a much larger resource than
acknowledged by skeptics of the original
Boise Water Works project who ninety
years earlier had predicted lowered temper­atures
by the time the Natatorium pool had
been filled.
John Austin, Department Manager for
Geothermal Projects for the Engineering
firm of CH2M Hill, Inc., has served as pro­ject
manager for Boise Geothermal. His
present capacity is project manager for the
State's Capitol Mall project. Mr. Austin
sees no apparent limit to the hot water
reservoir beneath Boise.
Construction of the State of Idaho and
Boise Geothermal systems is now under­way
and the current geothermal expansion
Footnotes
2. The analysis was as shown on page two in lower left.
3. For the historical overview, I am greatly Indebted to
MERLE W. WELLS, Archivist, Idaho State Historical
Society. For a more detailed history, see Mr. Well's
article, "Heat from the Earth's Surface: Early Develop­ment
of Western Geothermal Resources," Journal of
the West, Volume 10, no. 1, January 1971, pages 53-71.
4. Thanks to WES STUCKER for the Idaho State Health
Laboratory Information.
5. Thanks to LEA STREET·MARTIN of the State of Idaho
Department of Water Resources, Division of Energy
Resources; and to JOHN AUSTIN, Manager of Geo­thermal
Projects, CH2M Hill, Inc., for their help with
specifics and overviews of the State system.
6. Thanks to Buck Jones, Board Member of the Boise
Warm Springs Water District and of Boise Geother·
mal, for his courtesy regarding the Water District's
photos and specifics.
Funding for the Boise Geothermal systems has been
in Boise has reached a new plateau. Phil
Hanson, Director of Boise Geothermal, ex­plains
that future expansion is waiting for
revenues from the operation of the present
systems. Wells at Camel's Back Park to
heat Boise's north end are the next most
• likely project.
13
From the original artesian wells that
delivered 800,000 gallons of cold water a
day, the Boise water system has grown to
delivering six billion gallons daily. The busi­ness
battle that those 800,000 gallons of
cold water prompted has led to the develop­ment
of three community hot water
systems designed to provide clean and in­expensive
heat to governmental, commer­cial,
and residential buildings in Boise.
In addition to these three community
systems, Boiseans enjoy approximately
150 private geothermal wells. These are
used to heat 1greenhouses, buildings,
swimming pools, and domestic water.
These community and private projects
combine to keep Boise a pioneer in the use
of geothermal energy for space heating.e
provided by: a grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy, $4.2 million; financing the Military Reserve
wells by a private partnership, $2.1 million; the U.S.
Economic Development Administration, $50,000;
City of Boise tax revenues, $147,00; the Boise Warm
Springs Water District, $10,00.
7. A special thanks to PHIL HANSON, Director, and to
LEE POST, Informational Director, of Boise Geother·
mal. Their specific help with Boise Geothermal's
projects, their help with understanding geothermal
development In Boise generally, and their patience
with my Incessant questions provided great help.
8. Iceland began geothermal space heating in 1928.
After having sent engineers to examine the Boise sys·
tem, Iceland constructed a major expansion of their
system In 1942 and has since agressively pursued
geothermal development to minimize oil Imports.
Today approximately half of Iceland's space heating
Is provided by geothermal with Reykjavik, the Capitol,
being 90% dependent on geothermal heat.
N
Camel's • Back
Park
. . . . . . Community Geothermal
Space Heating Systems
in Boise, Idaho
.. · ·
·
·
. .
.
. . . .
. ..
• • II
•,
.
. .
.
. .
.
r
.
. . .
Boise Warm Springs Water District
- Line
- Service Area
City of Boise Geothermal System
-Line
Service Area
State of Idaho Geothermal System
(See page 9 for a more detailed map)
••••• Line
Service Area
Area served by both of the Boise
Geothermal systems (See page 10)
Service Area