Protests drain East Idaho water regulators
IDAHO FALLS – Opposition to proposed new water rights that tap into the Snake River Plain Aquifer has increased as the area has grown while recovering from a six-year drought.
One of the favored methods of rebuttal is to pay $20 to file paperwork contesting a water rights application – a move that can put it on hold for years.
“You can wield more power with a $20 protest, I think, than with anything else in the state,” said Roger Warner, a water rights supervisor with the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
City leaders in southeastern Idaho say the tactic could delay growth in the region.
“Anything dealing with water in the upper Snake River Valley will be protested by Twin Falls water users,” said Mike Virtue, Blackfoot mayor. “It’s getting more complicated all the time.”
Warner agreed.
“I think there is potential for slowdown,” he said. “Nobody’s come and told me, ‘We can’t grow.’ But I think they’re on the cusp of that.”
Some of the protests have been filed by Twin Falls Canal Co. water users.
“We’re not trying to control the growth of Idaho Falls,” said Vince Alberdi, general manager of the company. “We’re trying to protect our water right.”
By state law, water users with senior rights must be allocated their water before people with younger water rights receive water.
Water users with senior rights say new pumping from the decreasing supply in the aquifer would decrease the amount of water they are legally entitled to receive.
“We’ve got a battle for water,” said Mark Collard, a councilman in Blackfoot.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.
Kipp Hicks, executive director of Grow Idaho Falls, said businesses that want to expand outside the city limits will have problems with water under the current situation.
“Don’t anticipate it’s going to be a walk in the park,” he said.
The problem is something city dwellers must also contend with.
Blackfoot applied in 2005 to sink a 300-foot well to increase water pressure for future development.
The application was opposed, and the well hasn’t been built.