State Could Curtail Groundwater in Idaho

By Headwaters News, 5-07-07

Thanks to a recent court ruling, the state of Idaho could call for the largest curtailment of groundwater pumping in its history. The Twin Falls Times-News has been reporting for about a week now that if junior water rights holders don’t find a way to provide water for senior water rights holders, the state will shut off the wells of those junior water users.

Water allocation in Idaho and other Western states is tied to a system called prior appropriation, in which water claims are issued in the order they were first asked for — older rights holders can use all of their water before newer, or junior water rights holders, can use their allotment.

But back in March, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that those with the oldest and highest-priority water rights don’t have absolute rights to that water — the state does. And that decision opened the door to allowing the state more discretion in how water is allocated and allows the state to negotiate future Idaho water policy, including discrepancies between ground water and surface water users. 

In this case, two large agricultural users with decades-old water rights are calling for junior water rights holders to curtail their use so the older users can have the water they are legally entitled to. And the state engineer said he’ll shut off the pumps of the junior users if they don’t comply.

The water curtailment would affect both other agricultural users as well as several Idaho towns that hold junior water rights.

Economically, the biggest threat with such a water curtailment is to sugar beet and potato farmers. The state has a fallowing program, which allows farmers to receive compensation for allowing their fields to remain uncultivated in an effort to save water. Farmers have until the pump shut-off date, May 14th, to join the program.

But the water curtailment could affect thousands of residents as well. Officials and experts say cities such as Shoshone and others along the Snake River, probably won’t lose their “culinary” or domestic drinking water, but could lose all water for lawns and public parks.

The reality, though, is that no one is quite sure who will lose what if the curtailment goes through, including the cities.