Idaho farmers reach potential agreement on new long-term water mitigation plan
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Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Following a major water showdown this spring, Idaho farmers have reached a potential agreement over a new water mitigation plan that could protect farmers from having their water shut off during growing seasons, state officials announced Monday.
Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, and Idaho Water Resource Board Chairman Jeff Raybould outlined the potential agreement during the Idaho Legislature’s Natural Resources Interim Committee meeting Monday afternoon at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.
“We have a document that we have put out that we can be proud of and in a full-throated way defend,” Bedke said during Monday’s meeting.
“This is important,” Bedke added. “The state has issued property rights based on this water and we are all duty-bound to protect property rights.”
The potential agreement is not yet final and is not yet a public document, state officials said Monday. Instead, the potential agreement is being drawn up in contract form and will be sent to the members of groundwater and surface water districts for ratification in mid-November, Bedke and Raybould said.
New water mitigation plan would cover four-year terms
One of the major differences with the new agreement is that it breaks water usage and allotments into four-year terms, instead of handling things one year at a time, Raybould said.
So you will get four years worth of water, and it is up to each individual water user to manage that water as they see fit,” Raybould said. “If they want to be extra conservative to make sure they have extra water through all four years, they can do that.”
If water users use up their allotment early, they will be shut off when their water allocation is gone or they can ask their water district if it is possible to move water around to accommodate them, Raybould said.
The proposed new agreement also calls for groundwater districts that are a party to the agreement to conserve 205,000 acre feet of water annually.
An acre foot is a measure of volume that indicates the amount of water necessary to cover one acre of land in water one foot deep. For comparison, one acre of land is a little bit smaller than the size of a football field.
Groundwater districts have also agreed to monthly measurements, Raybould said.
“I think this is a huge improvement over what we have had to-date,” Raybould said.
The potential new agreement also acknowledges that water is a scarce, dwindling resource.
“This is a zero-sum game,” Bedke told legislators Monday. “When it’s gone, it is gone.”
“Gone are the days when we can go ahead as if there were an inexhaustible supply of stuff, including water,” Bedke said.
How did we get here?
Water issues came to a head in Idaho in May when Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver issued a curtailment order requiring the holders of 6,400 junior water rights to shut off their water in order to make up for a forecasted water shortfall, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
The curtailment order was in place for about three weeks until the Idaho Department of Water Resources announced a settlement agreement June 20 that ended curtailment and resolved the issue for this year.
Gov. Brad Little then issued an executive order requiring the two sides to reach a longer term agreement and put in place a new water mitigation plan by Oct. 1. The two sides missed Little’s Oct. 1 deadline but kept negotiating with Little’s encouragement.
The two sides, including the chairs of the surface water groups and groundwater groups, reached the potential deal on Friday – with Bedke and Raybould presenting the proposal during Monday’s Natural Resources Interim Committee meeting at the Idaho State Capitol.
Bedke and Raybould expressed optimism the agreement would be ratified in mid-November.
In a written statement Monday, the Idaho Ground Water Association welcomed news of a potential agreement but stressed the deal is not finalized.
“We are encouraged by the new mitigation plan negotiated between surface water and groundwater farmers,” Idaho Ground Water Association general counsel TJ Budge said in a written statement Monday. “While IGWA will not provide details until it is approved by our members, it is appropriate to share that IGWA’s representatives are proud of the proposed agreement and eager to show our membership a plan that prioritizes keeping farmland in production.”
“We appreciate the good faith efforts from our peers in the Surface Water Coalition and the leadership shown by Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke in creating an environment where an agreement could be reached,” Budge added.