U.S. Water News Online
BOISE, Idaho -- Lawmakers on an interim legislative committee, established to reduce water demands on the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer, offered to buy water rights from the Snake River and its connected streams.
The Idaho Department of Water Resources said there was a frenzy of people wanting to sell their rights. Holders of water rights had until 5 p.m. Jan. 7 to make an offer to the state through the department.
By the end of the business day, the department had counted about 25 offers. It had about 50,000 acres of water, but the acre-feet had not yet been calculated.
The offer was made Dec. 7. Department spokesman Mike Keckler said that prior to Jan. 3, little interest had been shown.
House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, said lawmakers anticipate paying up to $100 million for the rights to 60,000 acre feet of surface water. The deal is to help meet federal Endangered Species Act requirements.
The water supply has been strained by consecutive years of drought, decades of pumping and changing irrigation practices, so the region's parched aquifer leaves some water right holders unable to get their entire allotment.
The offer-to-sell strategy is only one part of the interim committee's strategy to reduce water coming from the aquifer. Water Resources Director Karl Dreher put together a plan to raise enough money to pay for the rights. It does not involve government commitment, but will allow the apartment to estimate how many water rights are for sale and how much people want for those rights.
Water purchased by the state would be used to convert spring water below the Snake River Canyon rim to surface water to be delivered to the Northside Canal Co. system, former Kimberly Sen. Laird Noh said.
The water could also be used to recharge the aquifer.
Lawmakers had hoped to have agreements between the groups of spring users, groundwater pumpers and surface users before December in order to be ready for the Legislature in January. But though surface users and pumpers are still a ways from an agreement, House Speaker Bruce Newcomb said earlier that he's not alarmed at the early lack of interest to sell.
"I've yet to see any water deal that wasn't solved in the 11th hour," Newcomb said.
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