States findings of the Legislature and supports various water projects within Water District 3.

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Sixty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2026 IN THE SENATE SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 118 BY RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION1 STATING FINDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE REGARDING WATER DISTRICT 3 AND SUPPORT-2 ING VARIOUS ASSOCIATED PROJECTS.3 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:4 WHEREAS, Water District 3 of the Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB),5 encompassing the agricultural heartland of the Magic Valley and Wood River6 basins including Twin Falls, Jerome, Gooding, Lincoln, Minidoka, Cassia,7 Blaine, Lemhi, Custer, Butte, and Camas counties, is a region of paramount8 economic productivity for the State of Idaho; and9 WHEREAS, the region supports the nation's most concentrated dairy in-10 dustry and vast acreage of irrigated row crops, all of which rely heavily11 on the conjunctive management of the Snake River and the Eastern Snake Plain12 Aquifer (ESPA); and13 WHEREAS, IWRB has identified, funded, and overseen numerous projects14 critical to sustaining the ESPA, mitigating flood risks in the Wood River15 basin, and modernizing the century-old canal systems that form the backbone16 of the local economy.17 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses-18 sion of the Sixty-eighth Idaho Legislature, the Senate and the House of Rep-19 resentatives concurring therein, that the Legislature hereby formally rec-20 ognizes the importance of and supports the continuation of the existing and21 future projects within Water District 3.22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature prioritizes the Milner Dam23 Emergency Spillway Project and acknowledges IWRB's recent approval of fund-24 ing for design and engineering studies to repair this critical structure. As25 Milner Dam serves as the "check valve" for the entire Upper Snake River sys-26 tem, ensuring its structural integrity is a matter of public safety and water27 security for the entire Magic Valley.28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature supports the Little Wood29 River Channel and City of Gooding Flood Control Project and, recognizing30 the history of devastating floods in this area, commends IWRB's continued31 financial commitment to this project as it moves through environmental32 compliance. This multi-phase effort is essential to protecting the City33 of Gooding's municipal infrastructure and residential neighborhoods from34 high-flow events while improving channel capacity.35 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature commends the launch of the36 Twin Falls Canal Company Operational Efficiencies Project and recognizes37 this as a landmark sustainability effort where the lining of the High Line38 Canal and the construction of new recharge basins will save tens of thousands39 of acre-feet of water annually. This project exemplifies the collaborative40 spirit of the region, reducing seepage to improve efficiency while simulta-41 neously creating new avenues for aquifer recharge.42

2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature supports the Upper Snake1 River Cloud Seeding Program and recognizes this as a sophisticated, cost-ef-2 fective technology that enhances winter snowpack in the high-elevation3 watersheds. This program, which occurs only in the high mountain ranges4 during the winter season, is a critical active management strategy that5 increases the total water budget available for storage, recharge, and irri-6 gation during the dry summer months.7 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature supports the continued ag-8 gressive implementation of ESPA Managed Aquifer Recharge across District 39 and affirms that sites, such as the Milepost 31 recharge facility, and part-10 nerships with the North Side Canal Company are indispensable tools for sta-11 bilizing the aquifer and meeting the state's obligation to recharge 350,00012 acre feet per year to ensure that ground water levels remain viable for fu-13 ture generations.14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature commends surface water and15 ground water users for their efforts to find meaningful long-term solutions16 and recognizes that these IWRB funds are a key to the success of the 202417 Stipulated Mitigation Plan.18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature acknowledges that the sta-19 bilization of the ESPA is a decadal challenge that cannot be solved with one-20 time funding, but requires a perpetual commitment to infrastructure renewal21 and recharge operations.22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature acknowledges the vital im-23 provements made through Aging Infrastructure Grants to the North Side Canal24 Company and the Milner Irrigation District and recognizes that grant fund-25 ing for canal lining, headgate automation, and diversion rehabilitation26 prevents catastrophic system failures and allows these legacy systems to27 operate with the precision required by modern agriculture.28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature declares these projects29 collectively vital to the strategic interests of District 3 as they, among30 other benefits:31 (1) Sustain the agricultural economy. By stabilizing the ESPA and mod-32 ernizing delivery systems like the Twin Falls Canal Company and North Side,33 these projects protect the water supply for Idaho's dairy and crop sectors;34 (2) Enhance public safety. The Milner Dam and Gooding Flood Control35 projects directly protect citizens and property from hydrologic hazards;36 and37 (3) Secure water certainty. Investments in efficiency and recharge re-38 duce conflict between surface water and ground water users, fostering a sta-39 ble regulatory environment for business investment.40 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature recognizes that the main-41 tenance of water security requires a sustained commitment to future invest-42 ment, particularly as District 3 faces the compounding pressures of hydro-43 logic variability and increased demand, and that proactive funding for plan-44 ning, modernization, and aquifer management is fiscally responsible and es-45 sential to prevent the significantly higher costs associated with deferred46 maintenance and emergency response.47 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature supports the continued ap-48 propriation of funds to IWRB to ensure the completion and long-term viabil-49 ity of critical projects in Water District 3.50