Idaho water officials outline adjudication timeline, ESPA settlement and $30 million funding request

Matt Weaver, director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR), told the committee the department’s priorities over the past year included staffing and reorganization, cloud seeding, Idaho Water Resource Board projects, adjudication and water administration.

Weaver said IDWR petitioned the courts to commence the Kootenai River Basin adjudication in January and expects a commencement order by midyear. He reported a split decision in federal court on whether federally held stock water rights can be forfeited; the state won on the central issue, but the federal government has appealed to the Ninth Circuit, delaying final action.

Weaver described an earlier loss of the department’s electronic document management system that affected roughly more than a million water-right records. He told senators IDWR rebuilt the system with assistance from the Office of Information Technology Services and private contractors and expects the remaining gap of documents to be searchable online by midyear.

On budgeting, Weaver said the governor recommended $30,000,000 ongoing for water projects (the Water Board administers the projects). IDWR requested five budget enhancements: funding that covers 10 staff positions (a continuing fund transfer), five new full-time positions to form a dedicated water administration bureau, a full-time public information officer, ESRI/GIS licensing, and an online application to accept proof forms.

Weaver summarized recent statutory changes affecting the Eastern Snake Plain. He cited a 2024 statutory modification (Idaho Code section cited in testimony as 42-233C) that expanded the area of common groundwater on the Eastern Snake Plain, bringing about 1,500 additional irrigation water rights into delivery-call proceedings. The statute also authorizes the director to add certain tributary basins into the area of common groundwater; IDWR plans public meetings this spring in basins including the Raft River, the Lost and Little Lost areas, Bannock and the Portneuf basin to discuss possible expansion.

Weaver reviewed last year’s curtailment order in the ESPA delivery call, saying it was a difficult but necessary step under Idaho law and administrative rules to address mitigation noncompliance. He said parties quickly negotiated a temporary settlement that carried them through irrigation season and later agreed on a longer-term settlement, which Weaver approved as a mitigation plan in January. He described features of the settlement he favors: physical pumping reductions and recharge guidelines, a four-year averaging period for junior groundwater users’ water use, and curtailment targeted only to individual irrigators who fail to meet proportional obligations rather than collective curtailment of entire groundwater districts.

Jeff Raybould, chairman of the Idaho Water Resource Board, described the board’s project funding and project highlights. He said more than $575,000,000 has been appropriated to the board since 2019 and that the water management account holds nearly $337,000,000 (including interest) for regional sustainability projects, aging-infrastructure grants, loans and other programs. Raybould listed ARPA funds of $250,000,000 to be used for projects such as the Anderson Ranch Dam raise (state share estimated at about $126,000,000 with 11% federal contribution), the Mountain Home Air Force Base pipeline and ESPA recharge infrastructure.

Raybould reviewed program details: aging infrastructure grants (competitive, up to one-third of a project cost with a $2,000,000 cap; about $56,000,000 awarded across 90 projects to date); the groundwater-to-surface-water conversion grant program (11 grants funded for $13,000,000 total; covers up to 50% of project cost with a $5,000,000 cap); telemetry and monitoring grants (up to 50% of project cost, capped at $250,000; applications due March 28); and a flood-management grant program that covers up to 50% of project costs to a $200,000 cap (77 projects funded, about $6,100,000 awarded).

Raybould also outlined recharge and cloud-seeding achievements: the board reports more than 2,500,000 acre-feet recharged since the 2014–15 season and an average annual recharge of approximately 251,000 acre-feet per year, with a target to raise capacity to 350,000 acre-feet. The cloud-seeding program operates in the Upper Snake, Boise and Wood River basins, using 3 aircraft and 57 ground generators; Raybould said the program’s average annual cost is about $3,600,000 and that it produces roughly 950,000 acre-feet of additional water on average, at about $3.77 per acre-foot.

Raybould said the Anderson Ranch Dam raise is at about 60% design, would add roughly 29,000 acre-feet of storage, and is expected to begin construction in 2027 with contracts let in 2026. He said the Mountain Home Air Force Base pipeline and pump-station project should be completed and turned over to the Air Force in 2025, with the base’s treatment plant online in 2026.

Senators posed several brief questions about the importance of the governor’s $30,000,000 recommendation, the cloud-seeding equipment locations (ground generators across basins, Idaho Power controls and aircraft based in Boise and Pocatello), and timing for various projects. Weaver and Raybould responded with program and timeline details.

The committee took no votes during the hearing; members adjourned after the presentations.