Idaho water officials ask for staff, outline $30 million ongoing request and recharge needs for Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer

Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with legislative services, opened the Department of Water Resources briefing to the Joint Committee, noting agency materials are on SharePoint and identifying the presentation location in the legislative budget book.

Director Matt Weaver, director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources, told the committee the department is asking for five new full‑time positions to create a Water Administration Bureau and to better support water‑district creation and administration across the state. Weaver said the five positions would be paired with about 11 existing staff to form the new bureau and that the new positions include a bureau chief, resource agency liaisons and a technical records specialist.

“The expectation [from the Eastern Snake Plain settlement] is that we are building out our water districts in those basins tributary to the Eastern Snake Plain,” Weaver said, describing demand for district creation in basins that do not have administrative districts today.

Weaver and Jeff Raybould, chairman of the Idaho Water Resource Board, described a mix of ongoing and one‑time funding in the department’s base. Jessup highlighted a governor’s recommendation to add $30 million ongoing from the general fund into the agency’s…