Gov. Little celebrates ‘Idaho Water Day’ in Idaho Falls, recognizing historic, new water agreement
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IDAHO FALLS — Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke commemorated a historic water rights agreement in Idaho Falls Friday afternoon.
“It secures the agricultural economy going forward,” Little said. “… (It) gives this entire state, that’s dependent upon irrigation, certainty and confidence.”
Bedke played a key role in negotiating the agreement and recognized the difficulty reaching an ultimate solution.
“Let’s face it, where we started and where we finished are two different places,” Bedke said. “… I’m proud of it.”
Idaho Water Resource Board Chairman Jeff Raybould, east Idaho farmers, legislators, water rights attorneys and other officials gathered at the Bennion Student Union Building at University Place in Idaho Falls to celebrate the achievement.
“This community’s economic certainty is going to be tied together by this agreement,” Little said.
The landmark agreement between the Surface Water Coalition and groundwater users from nine irrigation districts was reached on Nov. 14.
RELATED | Farmers reach new long-term agreement in water conflict more than a month after deadline
“My commitment to Idaho was we will have this sorted out before people start planning for next year’s crop, figuring out how many potatoes they’re going to have for their processing facility, buying fertilizer (and) doing all those things, because having the hammer drop in May and June is absolutely the worst thing,” Little told EastIdahoNews.com. “Recognizing that was what really brought everybody together to resolve the issue.”
Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls, serves as chairwoman of the Idaho Ground Water Appropriators, which represents nine irrigation districts in eastern Idaho. She said all parties at the table compromised, and no side received all that they wanted in the new deal.
“I think (as) farmers, we should be grateful that we got as good of agreement as we got. It took a lot of fighting … and there were many times when we just kept saying, ‘No, we can’t do that. It’ll put us out of business,’” she said. “I think for the farmers, they should be happy because they’ll have more control than they’ve had in the past.”
Idaho Ground Water Legal Counsel TJ Budge explained the new agreement requires groundwater users to conserve 205,000 acre-feet of groundwater each year — the same amount that has been required since 2016.
“I think this is the best management strategy we’ve had in the 18 years that I’ve been working on this, and it has a good chance of keeping farmland in production, stabilizing the aquifer and meeting the water needs of the senior (water right holders) in a way that that doesn’t cause economic harm,” Budge said. “… The pumpers have to pump less water out of the aquifer and recharge the aquifer.”
During negotiations, senior water rights holders asked junior users to increase the amount of groundwater conserved, which Budge said would have forced east Idaho farmers to “dry up more farmland.”
“We were able to avoid that,” he said. “… The plan does not require raising the water table in the aquifer.”
Little explained one of the plan’s overarching goals is to stabilize the Eastern Idaho Snake River Aquifer.
“This is going to be a dynamic model. If it’s a great year, we’ll add to the aquifer. If it’s an average or below-average year, we’ll probably dip into it a little bit,” the governor said. “But the net (result) is we’ve got to stabilize the aquifer because we’re so dependent upon it.”
The new plan also allows farmers to average their water use across four years, instead of requiring them to meet water conservation allotments every year – in both dry and wet years.
“The farmer can manage that however they want during that four years,” Budge said. “So they can manage their crop rotations, they can respond to weather cycles, and it’s a much more pragmatic way to conserve groundwater and operate.”
Mickelsen said the new plan prevents an entire district’s water from being shut off if one grower violates the mitigation plan.
Groundwater users will account for their water measurements every month.
The agreement also requires junior water rights holders to increase the amount of storage water leased in reservoirs every year to “75,000 acre-feet, but you only deliver it as needed,” Budge explained.
Previously junior groundwater users were required to lease and deliver 50,000 acre-feet of water every year – regardless of whether or not it was needed by senior water right holders.
Bedke highlighted the creation of a new oversight board, composed of the chairmen of the groundwater districts, Surface Water Coalition and future groundwater users that opt into the plan.
“The most important section in that agreement that we’re all very, very familiar with is the advisory board section,” Bedke said. “This is going to take continued effort, and I think that you all know that in the back of your heads. We got a really good agreement here.”
For additional details on the new water rights agreement, read EastIdahoNews.com’s full coverage below.
The agreement comes after the Idaho Department of Water Resources issued a water curtailment order in May, threatening to cut off water to 500,000 acres of farmland in Idaho after predicting a 74,100 acre-foot shortfall to the Twin Falls Canal Company.
More than 75 tractors drove through Idaho Falls in July prior to the governor’s address to the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber to bring attention to the farmer’s plight and the economic consequences of curtailing eastern Idaho farmland.
In June, Little issued an executive order, requiring the disputing parties to find a long-term solution by Oct. 1.
RELATED | Governor signs order requiring water users reach permanent solution in conflict
The newly adopted plan seeks to resolve multiple long-standing tensions between the Surface Water Coalition and the Idaho Ground Water Appropriators.
“We want to be efficient with the water, we don’t want to waste the water, and if we get an opportunity, let’s put as much water as we can back in the aquifer,” Little said Friday.
Following this new agreement will prevent water curtailment calls on the nine participating eastern Idaho water districts in the future, the governor said.
“This agreement fixes that,” Little said, applauding the parties for coming together. “… When your neighbor says, ‘This is the right thing to do,’ it makes all the difference in the world.”
