Wednesday, December 6, 2006

State starts review of valley water rights

Big task ahead for IDWR


By STEVE BENSON
Express Staff Writer

Steve Beevers, left, and John Miley, right, representatives of Cove Springs Development, which is proposing a 338-unit housing project south of Bellevue, discuss Big Wood River water adjudication issues Monday afternoon with Bellevue resident Rocky Sherbine. Photo by Willy Cook

Water in the Big Wood River basin runs clean and clear. Rights to use the precious commodity are anything but.

For the past 20 years, the Idaho Department of Water Resources has worked to eliminate the murkiness that has saturated the state's water laws since the 19th century. Once complete, the massive effort, known as the Snake River Basin Adjudication, will verify and authenticate every single water right in the state.

It's not a small task.

"This is our shot to make (water rights) as correct as possible," said Dave Tuthill, a resources administrator with IDWR.

The Snake River Basin encompasses all but the northern tip of the state. The final hurdle to adjudicate water rights in the gigantic watershed is Basin 37, home to the Big and Little Wood rivers and Camas Creek.

On Monday afternoon, about 200 water rights' holders from the Wood River Valley, known as Part 3 in Basin 37, packed into a meeting room at the Sun Valley Inn to discuss their water rights with IDWR representatives. Part 2 in Basin 37 encompasses Camas Creek while the Little Wood River flows through Part 1.

Tuthill presented background information on the adjudication process and answered questions before turning the crowd loose on more than a dozen adjudication experts lining the meeting room's walls. One by one, the experts reviewed water right reports, which are basically in the first draft phase, with each individual holder.

The IDWR left Basin 37 last for good reason.

"This is a not a big area in terms of land. It's really pretty small, but there are a lot of pieces," Tuthill said. "This is a complex area, no question about it."

As a result, the IDWR wanted to have a wealth of experience under its belt before wading into the Wood River Valley.

Additional public meetings were scheduled for Monday evening and Tuesday, and Tuthill said the IDWR staff "was committed to stay until we see everybody." Meetings are expected to continue today and possibly last until the end of the week.

"This is a key time, a very opportune time to look at water rights," Tuthill said. "But this is not the last chance."

After viewing their water right report, citizens will have until Jan. 8 to submit a "notice of error" if they feel there are any inaccuracies.

Reports containing anything more than a perceived inaccuracy will require an objection. The deadline to file an objection, which can be issued over a neighbor's water right, is Nov. 14, 2007.

"If you file an objection, we will look at it to see if we can solve the problem," Tuthill said. If the IDWR can't, the issue will be taken up in court.

Tuthill said the IDWR has seen objection rates of about 10 percent in each sub-basin across the state.

Meanwhile, there were concerns from citizens that an Idaho Supreme Court case pitting surface-water users against groundwater users would derail the adjudication process. The case, which could significantly impact how water is distributed across the state, will be argued Friday with a ruling expected by February.

"What we're facing is a whole new era in the state in terms of water management," Tuthill said.

But insofar as validating surface water rights the outcome of the Supreme Court case is a moot issue.

"It's really not going to affect the adjudication or rights," Tuthill added. "It will impact wells."

Others wondered whether the adjudication would help curb Wood River Valley water theft, which according to David W. Murphy, deputy water master in Basin 37, has been running rampant for years.

"Welcome to Sun Valley. This is typical America, the land of greed, where people just take, take, take," Murphy said in August. "There are so many (people stealing) up here. It's a runaway problem."

Murphy said he blew the whistle because an increasing number of people are building illegal ponds on their properties and filling them with illegally diverted water.

"With the farmers, it's 'Yes sir, no sir.' They respect the law," Murphy said in August. "Up here, people get mad and call their lawyers, and I get all these sharks after me.

"I have a responsibility to deliver water to its rightful owners."

On Monday Murphy said he was hopeful that the adjudication would help him enforce the law.

"It's going to be a long process, I believe," he said.

Murphy's boss, Water Master Kevin Lakey, said that when Murphy blew the whistle last summer "it was a little hard because of all the phone calls, but it was good in the end because it created a lot of awareness."

He thinks the adjudication will make water rights clearer and cleaner and allow for a beefed up enforcement team. The IDWR, which is ultimately responsible for enforcing water laws across the state, has been light on resources due to the adjudication. Once the process is complete, "our enforcement aspect will be increased," Tuthill said.

"(The adjudication) will be one of the best things in my job," Lakey said with a grin.




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