- IDWR’s Response to Request for Exclusion by the A&B Irrigation District – April 16, 2004
- IDWR’s Response to Request for Exclusion by the Minidoka School District – April 9, 2004
- Order Staying Proceedings – March 30, 2004
- Contested Case Service List – March 29, 2004
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Petition for Hearing – March 25, 2004
- Rangen Inc. Petition Contesting March 10, 2004 Amended Order – March 25, 2004
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Petition for Hearing – March 25, 2004
- Idaho Power Company’s Petition to Intervene – March 25, 2004
- Minidoka County School District #311 Petition for Exclusion from Amended Order – March 25, 2004
- Order Approving Interim Mitigation – March 24, 2004
- Bob and Kathleen Krucker, Zippora Stahl, Long View Dairy, and Blue Sky Ranch Petition for Intervention, Reconsideration and Hearing – March 24, 2004
- Twin Falls Canal Company’s and Clear Springs Foods, Inc.’s Petition to Intervene – March 23, 2004
- Order of Limited Consolidation – March 22, 2004
- A&B Irrigation District’s Petition for Exclusion from Amended Order – March 22, 2004
- Donley Farms, Inc. Protest – March 18, 2004
- Bryan and Vernon Ravenscroft Protest – March 18, 2004
- Ed and Alpha Mahler Protest – March 16, 2004
- The Groundwater Users’ Petition for Intervention, Reconsideration and Hearing – March 16, 2004
- The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Mitigation, Recovery and Restoration Agreement for 2004 – March 15, 2004
- Lava Lake Land & Livestock, LLC (Michael S. Stevens) Protest – March 15, 2004
- Shaw Land and Livestock (Hubert and Rita Shaw) Protest – March 15, 2004
- Webb Basin Dairy Petition for Exclusion from March 10th Amended Order – March 15, 2004
- Gary and Helen DeMoss Plan to Offset Depletions to the ESPA – March 12, 2004
- Clear Lakes, Fisheries Development, Rim View and The Hardy Estate’s Petition to Intervene – March 12, 2004
- Petition Setting Forth Reasons Why the Carey Valley Groundwater Users Should Not Be Subject to the February 25, 2004 Order and Petition Contesting the February 25, 2004 Order – March 12, 2004
- Petition Setting Forth Reasons Why the Carey Water and Sewer District Should Not Be Subject to the February 25, 2004 Order and Petition Contesting the February 25, 2004 Order – March 12, 2004
- City of Burley’s Petition Contesting Amended Order and Requesting a Hearing – March 12, 2004
- Arlen and MaryLee Buerkle Protest – March 12, 2004
- J.R. Simplot Company Plan to Conform to Order – March 12, 2004
- Notice of Contested Case and Notice of Status Conference – March 11, 2004
- Idaho Transportation Department’s Petition for Exclusion – March 11, 2004
- Gene D. and Judi K. Fredericksen’s Petition for Hearing – March 11, 2004
- Idaho Dairymen’s Association’s Petition Requesting an Idaho Code Section 42-1701A Hearing, Request for Stay of Delivery Call Order, and Petition to Intervene – March 11, 2004
- Delbert Kohtz Protest – March 11, 2004
- Amended Order in the Matter of Distribution of Water to Water Rights Nos. 36-15501, 36-02551, and 36-07694 – March 10, 2004
- Jerry and Patty Nance Protest – March 10, 2004
- Richard A. Dinges (Tunupa Ranch) Mitigation Plan – March 10, 2004
- Wallace Neal and Nancy Lee Bowman Objection – March 10, 2004
- Scott Huxhold for Donald T. Bray Petition – March 10, 2004
- Jensen Dairy Farm (Scott Jensen) Petition – March 9, 2004
- Louis Leon Hubsmith Petition – March 9, 2004
- Ralph Stanley Ward Petition – March 9, 2004
- Jerome Country Club Petition – March 8, 2004
- Order in the Matter of Distribution of Water to Water Rights Nos. 36-15501, 36-02551, and 36-07694 – February 25, 2004
Additional Information
Issuing this order was the result of lengthy deliberation and application of facts coupled with Idaho’s laws.
Idaho is a prior appropriation state, meaning that large or small, the holder of earlier rights have the right to divert and beneficially use water before later rights are filled. During most years, junior priority surface water rights are curtailed as the supply recedes and there is not sufficient water for those rights and the rights that are senior in priority.
Surface water rights have been administered in this manner for many years. Groundwater rights are subject to the same laws governing administration of the rights as for surface water rights, and the outcome can be harsh – but those laws must still be enforced.
There are mechanisms for the holders of senior priority rights to allow for sharing of the available water supply with junior priority uses during times of shortage. But as the recent drought has extended through a fourth year, holders of senior rights are more aggressively seeking to receive their water through curtailment of more junior rights. This is the recourse provided by Idaho law to the holders of senior priority rights.
I do not take lightly the responsibilities of my position and the fact that the decisions I must make have consequences. I also do not give any weight in my decision making on whether a party does or does not have political connections. I do, however, fully intend to enforce Idaho water laws, which is what Idahoans should rightfully expect of me.
The agreement reached last week to avoid curtailment will give us all the much needed breathing room we need to determine what should be done in the longer term.
— Karl J. Dreher, IDWR Director
April 22, 2004
On September 23, 2003, Rangen, Inc. (which operates a fish hatchery facility that uses water from springs tributary to Billingsley Creek) filed a priority call for delivery of water with IDWR.
IDWR investigated and determined that there has been a significant decrease in the spring-dependent water supply that is used at Rangen’s fish facility, and that this supply of water is not adequate to satisfy Rangen’s water right number 36-02551 bearing a priority date of July 13, 1962 which authorizes a maximum diversion rate of 48.54 cfs.
IDWR also determined that the diversion and use of groundwater in Water District 130 authorized by water rights that are junior in priority to the Rangen water right number 36-02551 cause material injury to that right.
On February 25, 2004, the IDWR Director issued an order requiring curtailment of junior priority rights in Water District 130 effective April 1, 2003 unless certain actions are taken to provide 16,000 acre feet of replacement water directly to Rangen Inc. or 26,500 acre feet of water as that can increase spring discharges.
