Alan Hansten, North Side Canal Company
The Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho.
T
he North Side Canal Company supplies irrigation water to about 160,000 acres of farmland in southern Idaho. As an essential business, the company has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, North Side Manager Alan Hansten tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the company has had to face and what it’s had to change in order to continue operations. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about the North Side Canal Company.
50 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE
Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations? Alan Hansten: Our operations haven’t been too severely affected. We’re right in the middle of getting water started up, so we’re obviously an essential business. We’ve got everybody on deck. We’ve closed the office to walk-in traffic and just have our office staff here, generally without any visitors. We’ve encouraged social distancing among all our employees and are trying to keep everybody to the 6‑foot rule. My front office staff actually like the idea of having the front door locked at this time of year, because this is the peak time when everybody comes in to pay their bills. My staff aren’t interrupted all the time by having to help folks with their payments because our shareholders are dropping IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTO COURTESY OF STAPLEGUNTHER.
Alan Hansten: I’ve worked at the North Side Canal Company since February 2009 and took over as general manager in 2013. The North Side Canal Company supplies irrigation water to about 160,000 acres of farmland in southern Idaho, on the north side of the Snake River. Our organization has about 56 employees. We also have hydropower within our system and work with the State of
Idaho on its program to replenish and restore the Eastern Snake Plain aquifer.
