State engineer issues order after long‑running Tropic–Otter Creek storage agreement lapsed; council discusses responses

Local water users and the State Engineer’s Office are engaged in a dispute over storage at Tropic Reservoir after a long-standing informal arrangement between Tropic and Otter Creek Irrigation lapsed and a change application expired.

Meeting participants described a sequence in which an informal or “napkin” agreement governed expanded storage at Tropic for decades. According to a timeline discussed in the meeting, Tropic’s reservoir was documented around 1898–1901, increased storage in 1936, a rejected storage request in 1942, an informal temporary storage arrangement in 1961, and a formal change application filed in 1977. The State Engineer approved the change in February 2005; that approval later lapsed in February 2010, and participants said Tropic continued to operate under the prior understanding until 2025. In early 2025 the State Engineer’s Office filed an enforcement referral and a…