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Senate bill proposed to bar curtailment in tributary districts until both surface and groundwater are jointly administered
Summary
Sen. Jim Guthrie introduced RS32249 to prevent curtailment of surface water in tributary districts until groundwater in those same districts is administratively managed on the same basis as the East Snake Plain agreement.
Sen. Jim Guthrie presented RS32249 to the committee, saying the bill would prevent curtailment of surface-water users in tributary districts unless both surface and groundwater in those tributary districts are administered together.
Guthrie told the committee he was concerned that an agreement reached this summer between surface and groundwater users in Water District 1, the East Snake Plain area, did not include nearby tributary districts. As a result, he said, "as a surface water user in a tributary district, I have no relief options" because the tributary districts lacked an established administrative framework for groundwater.
He summarized the proposal this way: "This simply says that until both surface and groundwater are administrated, the same and fairly, that there can be no curtailment, called for in this tributary districts." Guthrie said water users in those districts are working to form water districts to allow administration but those districts were not yet in place.
A committee member moved to send RS32249 to print; the transcript records the motion and second and indicates the motion was carried without recorded opposition.
The draft language seeks to preserve the status quo for surface-water users in affected tributary districts until a parallel administrative regime for groundwater is in place; it does not itself create a groundwater district on the floor of the committee but would bar curtailment actions in the interim.
