Agricultural Affairs committee hears overview of Idaho water law, irrigation efficiency and research priorities

The Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee heard a series of briefings on water rights, irrigation efficiency and research needs from state and industry speakers during a committee meeting.

Deputy Director Shelly Keene of the Idaho Department of Water Resources told the committee that “a water right confers ownership of an entitlement to use the public water for a specific purpose called a beneficial use,” and gave a high-level overview of Idaho water law, permitting, adjudication and administration. Keene noted that most users obtain rights through the statutory permitting and licensing process administered by IDWR, that rights carry priority dates under the prior-appropriation doctrine (“first in time is first in right”), and that general stream adjudications—most notably the Snake River Basin Adjudication—remain a major tool for confirming priorities and quantities.

Keene described recent legislative changes and administration tools the department uses when water supply is limited: she referenced Senate Bill 1083 (the session’s domestic/stock filing exemption), the director’s authority under Idaho Code to impose moratoria on new appropriations, and groundwater management areas that allow measurement, reporting, curtailment and management planning. She said work is under way to form additional water districts and to administer surface and groundwater conjunctively in basins tributary to the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA).…