The Blaine County Commission on Tuesday took the necessary first step needed to declare a drought emergency in the county.
Under the next step in the process, the commissioners' request will be forwarded to the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the desk of Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, who is responsible for approving such requests.
Kevin Lakey, watermaster for local water District 37 and 37M, which has jurisdiction over the Big and Little Wood river systems, said Tuesday the declaration couldn't come anytime too soon.
An early, warmer-than-normal spring has caused the region's snowpack to trickle away to a fraction of its winter total. The Big Wood River is currently flowing at a fairly robust rate, but the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service is saying those flows will begin to drop precipitously within a few days, Lakey said.
"By the end of May, we'll be at 200 cfs (cubic-feet-per-second)," he said. "It's going to come down pretty quick."
Information posted on the Idaho Department of Water Resource's Web site explains how the county-by-county drought declaration process works in Idaho.
Idaho counties cannot on their own declare a drought emergency, the IDWR information states. Rather, they must petition the state agency to declare such an emergency.
Drought emergency declarations are issued by IDWR and must be approved by the Idaho governor. The drought declarations apply only to the administrative processing of water right applications, the agency's Web site further explains.
"It allows for an emergency transfer of water rights," Lakey said.
Explained more fully, he said this would allow one water rights holder to transfer to another water user his water rights in the event that water user makes such a request, Lakey said.
The emergency drought declaration and associated water rights transfers only apply to the current calendar year, and expire on Dec. 31, he added.
"The transfer (of water rights) becomes null and void at the end of the year," Lakey said.
Asked by Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman if there are any downsides to such a declaration, Lakey said they're limited.
In parts of Lincoln County—which is also considering asking the state for a drought declaration—underground water resources are poorly understood and have fewer direct links across a wide area, he said. In counties like this, transfers of water rights can be troublesome.
Such is not the case in Blaine County, Lakey said.
"We're so much more in the same bathtub up here," he said of the underground connections in the area's water supply.
Admitting the county may be a little behind in requesting the emergency drought declaration, Commissioner Larry Schoen predicted the declaration will be taken advantage of by Bellevue Triangle farmers.
"I think there are already people who could make use of these transfers," Schoen said.
Emergency drought declarations do not apply to issues such as financial or disaster support, the IDWR's Web site further indicates. So far in 2007, only two counties in Idaho—Custer and Butte—have been declared drought emergency areas.
