Committee advances amended bill to regulate domestic wells in critical groundwater areas

The House Resources and Conservation Committee advanced Senate Bill 1083 as amended after an extended hearing with lawmakers and stakeholders about domestic wells and critical groundwater areas.

Representative Doug Pickett, sponsor, told the committee the bill is “the result of a long standing effort on the part of many, many interests in the State to address ongoing water concerns.” He said domestic wells account for a small share of total statewide use but that growth has produced many new diversion points: “over a 20 year period of time, 56,000 domestic wells have been drilled in Idaho,” he said, and those wells can cumulatively add up to significant new diversions.

Pickett described four primary elements of the bill: bringing domestic users into groundwater planning and awareness in critical areas; allowing subdivisions to consolidate individual domestic rights into a single well to reduce the number of new wells drilled; providing a streamlined enforcement method for limits on domestic use; and ensuring development in areas of impact is compatible with eventual municipal systems. He thanked the Idaho Water Users Association and said Paul Arrington was available for technical detail.

Paul Arrington, testifying for the Idaho Water Users Association, said the bill is the product of a three-year collaborative process involving realtors, home builders, cities, counties, water users and well drillers. He said meters originally proposed for all domestic uses were removed following stakeholder concerns, and that inspection language in Section 2 reflects existing longstanding authority for well construction inspections: “If you look up in Subpart 1, you'll see that exact language stricken out as it was moved down to subpart 2... these types of inspections ... would be necessary in terms of well construction standards.” He added DEQ monitoring applies to community wells for quality and supply questions.

Opposition testimony came from Brian Murdock of Blackfoot, who said the statutory caps referenced in the code (half-acre, 13,000 gallons per day, 2.8 acre-feet per year) represent a large guaranteed allocation when multiplied by thousands of domestic wells and urged reconsideration. Braden Jensen of the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation registered support and submitted a letter in the committee packet.

Committee members pressed on implementation scope. Representative Rhineau asked about the phrase in Section 2 (line 47) that “wells and withdrawal devices for domestic purposes or uses shall be subject to inspection by the Department of Water Resources and Department of Environmental Quality”; Arrington and a department representative said the inspections are tied to construction and existing permitting and do not represent ongoing monitoring of every domestic well.

Representative Andrews moved to send SB 1083 as amended to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion passed by voice vote.