Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to remove a date restriction associated with certain water rights.

Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to revise provisions regarding water district meetings and budgets, watermasters, the election and appointment of water district treasurers, and the distribution of water, to provide for the collection of certain penalties and interest for unpaid expenses, and to provide for the withholding or suspension of certain water deliveries.

Adds to and amends existing law to provide for the Bear River water rights adjudication.

Amends existing law to provide that a party asserting that a water right has been forfeited has the burden of proving the forfeiture, to provide that certain water rights shall not be lost or forfeited for nonuse, and to provide for third-party claims of right.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding construction work and the application of water to full beneficial use, lapses of permits, and the issuance of licenses and to provide for extensions of time and permits held by municipal providers for reasonably anticipated future needs.

This legislation modifies the current process for issuing permits and licenses to municipal providers for "reasonably anticipated future needs" water rights (also known as "RAFN" water rights). A RAFN water right authorizes a municipal provider to secure a long term municipal water supply and develop the municipal water use over an extended period of time known as the planning horizon. Under current law, proof of beneficial use for RAFN rights is often due years or decades before the planning horizon ends. As a result, the Idaho Department of Water Resources ("IDWR") must issue a water right license based on a revised estimate of the amount of water that the municipal provider will beneficially use by the end of the planning horizon. The estimate is based partly on population growth projections and partly on the capacity of the water system constructed or used when proof of beneficial use is submitted. Installing capacity may require municipal providers to invest in water delivery infrastructure before it is needed. Equating capacity and projected population growth to future beneficial use causes difficulty for the Department in issuing the final license and creates uncertainty for municipal providers. This legislation reduces uncertainty in the water right licensing process by causing the development period for RAFN rights to correspond to the planning horizon and by authorizing the Director of IDWR to license RAFN water rights in incremental steps based upon actual beneficial use up through the end of the development period. In accordance with Idaho Supreme Court precedent, the provisions set forth in this legislation will apply to applications for RAFN permits approved after the effective date of this legislation, even if the application was submitted prior to the effective date of this legislation. The legislation states how it will apply to permits in existence at the time of the effective date of this legislation. The legislation also includes other clean-up r

Amends existing law to provide that water may be diverted and used with or without a water right for certain cleanup or removal of hazardous substances or petroleum, to provide for reporting, and to provide that the director of the Department of Water Resources shall be consulted.

This proposal would provide an exemption from the requirement to obtain a temporary water right permit for removalofcontaminatedwaterduringanemergencyresponse. ThisexemptionissimilartoIdahoCodeSection 42-201 where water is withdrawn to fight wildfires. Emergency spills can happen at all hours of the day and immediate response is critical to mitigate further damage to water bodies and public drinking water systems that use surface water. Under the current statute, IDWR grants a temporary water right to remove contaminated water for treatment offsite or to temporarily remove the contaminated water, separate out the contamination, and return the decant water back to the water body. Granting a temporary water right can potentially take days. The current process impacts the state's ability to work with the regional hazmat teams/emergency response cleanup contractors/responsible parties to remove contaminated water from a water body in a timely manner and minimize the potential impacts on human health and the environment.