Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Water ruling sets stage for battles

Upstream sale ruled subordinate to minimum streamflow


By TONY EVANS
Express Staff Writer

The Big Wood River meanders south of Bellevue. Photo by Willy Cook

Selling water rights upstream in the Big Wood River Basin became more problematic last month when the Idaho Department of Water Resources issued a ruling to enforce minimum streamflow requirements in the Big Wood River.

The ruling subordinates an 1883 water right sold upstream by the Rohe family from the Hiawatha Canal to a 1983 minimum streamflow right held by the Idaho Water Resources Board. Under the ruling, if the flow of the Big Wood River falls below 189 cubic feet per second, the water right would become temporarily invalid.

The separation of interests over the minimum streamflow issue became apparent at a Bellevue City Council meeting Thursday.

"This is not a rational decision," said attorney Fritz Haemmerle, who represented the Rohe family. "Not one single transfer has been subordinated to these minimum streamflows in almost 30 years. Why this was changed is a mystery to everyone."

As a Hailey city councilman, Haemmerle has been working to shore up water rights for that city.

"This will hurt the market for water rights and hurt cities' ability to mitigate [seek other sources of water] under conjunctive management," he said.

Conjunctive management is an innovative regulatory practice that manages surface water, used for irrigation, along with groundwater, or well-pumping rights. When priority dates of the two kinds of water rights are managed together, the well user typically loses if the water is used for "consumptive uses," such as watering lawns.

Senior water rights decreed to farmers in southern Blaine County many years ago have become a hot commodity for sale to private homeowners in the north county in recent years, in part to prepare for conjunctive management, expected to come to the valley in the next few years. There is a growing concern that there may not be enough water rights to go around.

Yet many people in the south valley are opposed to transferring rights upstream at any cost.

Bellevue City Administrator Tom Blanchard recommended Thursday that the council write a letter to the Water Resources Board thanking it for its decision, saying it would serve to protect the Big Wood River.

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"The river has gone dry south of Bellevue three times in the last 30 years," Blanchard said. "It's not just dead fish. It takes four or five years for benthic [bottom-dwelling] organisms and other creatures to come back. The city should protest sales of water upstream, especially from the Diamond Dragon Ranch, which has some of the most significant rights in the valley."

Water scientist Lee Brown presented a PowerPoint presentation on major water issues facing the valley. The issues included conjunctive management, minimum streamflow requirements and total maximum daily load limits for wastewater effluents.

Brown, a Blaine County resident, recently went into private water consulting practice with Dave Tuthill, former director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources.

Brown advised the Bellevue council to join the Blaine County Commission in forming an advisory group, made up of north- and south-valley water users, to respond to challenges posed by conjunctive management practices.

He said formation of the committee would avoid "rancor" between north- and south-valley interests. But based on statements made at Thursday's meeting, that may be too late.

"That advisory board will be loaded, and not in Bellevue's interest," said Wood River Valley Irrigation District 45 Co-Director John Stevenson.

Stevenson represents a canal district formed at the turn of the 20th century to deliver water to about 8,000 acres of land via about 20 miles of canals. Irrigation District 45 water user Pepin Corso-Harris wrote a guest opinion in a recent issue of the Idaho Mountain Express saying, "We've seen a stepped-up increase in illegal water use north of the District 45 system, which means there is less water for the system."

Stevenson contended at Thursday's meeting that Tuthill decided to come to the Wood River Valley after stepping down from the Idaho Department of Water Resources because "this is where the money is."

Bill Sedivy, executive director of Idaho Rivers United, said in an interview that "the water board did the right thing in this case."

"Minimum streamflows are there to protect the ecological health of the river. Transfers need to be considered with respect to what effect they are going to have on a river's health."

Idaho Department of Water Resources Southern Region Director Allen Merritt said the Water Resources Board has the authority to change the minimum streamflows in the Big Wood River, but is unlikely to do so.

Merritt said five pending water right transfers that would dry up land south of Bellevue and allow more water to be used in the north valley will be affected by the Rohe decision.

"The same issues around the Rohe transfer relate to these others," he said. "Conditioned approvals are used to protect the Water Resource Board's water rights."

Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com




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