Idaho water director outlines heavy adjudication workload, details Eastern Snake Plain settlement and FY26 budget requests

Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Matthew Weaver told the House Resources Committee that the agency is preparing for a large increase in adjudication work, described the department’s recovery from a catastrophic records‑system failure, and outlined fiscal 2026 budget requests tied to aquifer monitoring, communications, software licensing and a proposed water administration bureau.

Weaver said the Attorney General’s Office submitted a petition on Jan. 3 to begin adjudication of the Kootenai River Basin, the last unadjudicated basin in Idaho, and the court set an April hearing on commencement. He said a formal commencement order is likely within months after the hearing.

The director summarized a recently concluded federal court decision tied to the Snake River Basin Adjudication litigation. Weaver said the court held that Idaho Code provisions allowing the director to issue show‑cause orders related to forfeiture — described in the hearing as Idaho Code sections governing show‑cause and forfeiture procedures — may be applied to the United States, while other statutory provisions were found to conflict with the Supremacy Clause and were enjoined as to federal parties. Weaver said, contingent on appeals, the department will proceed with four show‑cause cases and expects to issue decisions in the coming year or two.

Weaver also warned the committee that state SRBA court activity may force the department to process deferred domestic and stock water claims left out of earlier work. He described the possible scale of that workload as “tens of thousands, if not in excess of a hundred thousand” additional claims and said the adjudication section…