Idaho doesn’t have a water shortage. The problem is irrigation rights mismanagement | Opinion

In his book, “A Little Dam Problem,” former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones wrote: “In 1983, an epic battle erupted between the State of Idaho and Idaho Power Company over the company’s water right at its Swan Falls Dam. That resulted from a November 1982 decision of the Idaho Supreme Court, which appeared to give the power company control of the full flow of the river at that location.”

Jones outlined how he, Gov. John Evans and others resolved this conflict through the Swan Falls Agreement, preventing a monopoly over Idaho’s water resources. They emphasized the efficient use of water resources while ensuring that senior water rights were respected and water wasn’t wasted.

Water rights in Idaho follow the prior appropriation doctrine, meaning “first in time, first in right.” When water is scarce, senior water rights holders get their water first, and junior users get what’s left or get shut off — curtailed — if there isn’t enough.

But it’s important to remember that according to Idaho water law, the senior user gets the better right, not the only right.

A conflict similar to the one that gave rise to Swan Falls Agreement reared its head last month.

This time, a group of senior water users is being used to gain control of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA), but junior and other stakeholders lack champions like Evans and Jones.

Instead, the Idaho Department of Water Resources has come to rely on a flawed deal negotiated in 2016 and reinterpreted in 2022 , seen as a be-all-end-all solution for water issues in the eastern Snake Plain. The Surface Water Coalition, including the Twin Falls Canal Company, is the senior water user named in the ongoing water call that requires groundwater users to deliver over 74,000 acre-feet of water this year. That’s to compensate them for a supposed shortfall produced by a biased water model, and despite a surplus of over 500,000 acre-feet in storage within the canal system.

This year, the system has seen an 850,000-acre-foot increase in water flowing into the river from the aquifer, 300,000+ acre-feet in aquifer recharge, a 400-500 cubic-feet-per-second increase in flows at Thousand Springs, 102% of average water above Heise, reservoirs filling before water is released to prevent flooding, and a 600,000+ acre-foot water dump over Milner Dam due to excess.

This is mismanagement, not a shortage.

The original interpretation of the 2016 plan was uncomfortable but workable, providing “safe harbor” when implemented. Junior users managed mitigation with available tools, making gains in efficiency and recharging above the plan’s benchmarks. They used surplus water in wet years to recharge the aquifer, offsetting dry-year pumping.

However, in late 2022, the water director reinterpreted the plan, claiming most junior users were in breach, requiring annual mitigation water supply, and allowing only senior users to use averages with losses carried forward. This made the plan unworkable, leading to potential shutdowns of hundreds of thousands of acres.

Worsening the situation, the IDWR, with little notice and questionable due process, changed the way its model worked. This increased the number of groundwater acres needing to be shut off to satisfy senior surface water users, as seen in the 2024 curtailment ratio of 25 groundwater acres for every senior surface water acre.

These changes made the 2016 plan unworkable, yet the governing body overlooks the constantly shifting goalposts that, in effect, turn the mitigation plan into a blank check for water extortion. Recently, the IDWR added 12,000 acre-feet to the 240,000-acre-foot mitigation plan until aquifer level benchmarks are met, which increase yearly.

The plan seemingly subordinates aquifer recharge and instead prioritizes unreasonable pumping reductions. Without prioritizing recharge, we shut off acres, kill farms, wreck farmers’ livelihoods and break eastern Idaho’s ag-centric economy. Real, common-sense solutions are needed to keep senior users whole while benefiting the majority of junior users and the state.

If we learned anything from history and the battle over Swan Falls, it’s that it does not benefit Idaho’s citizens when someone is left with control over large portions of our resource. Idaho has plenty of water, as evidenced by the average annual dumping of over 1 million acre-feet out of the system over the past 25 years.

Idaho doesn’t have a water problem; it has a management problem.