House backs water rights project

BOISE – The House approved about $1.4 million Wednesday to continue funding a program to divvy up rights to North Idaho water, despite one Panhandle lawmaker’s concerns that part of the bill would hinder those efforts.

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, contended that language in Senate Bill 1205 might undermine the legal process of water-rights adjudication – determining who has rights to how much water – in the Coeur d’Alene/Spokane river basin.

But bill supporters said the language is harmless, citing a recent attorney general’s opinion that it won’t prevent the legal process from beginning as soon as later this year.

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill starting adjudication in North Idaho. The process will require all water users to file claims, and a state court will later decide which ones to uphold.

The process has become more urgent because some lawmakers worry that Washington, which has stopped issuing new water rights in the area, might try to claim more water originating in Idaho.

SB 1205 allocates money to the Department of Water Resources to develop the adjudication program, which includes adding staff members in Coeur d’Alene and Boise and developing a computer database to map claims, said department Interim Director Dave Tuthill.

But Clark is concerned because the bill states that the department’s efforts should “be limited in this fiscal year to the Rathdrum Prairie water rights and to Idaho-Washington cross-border water issues.”

The wording does not preclude the department from starting adjudication, and it merely directs the director to start the process by focusing on claims stemming from the Rathdrum Prairie area, Deputy Attorney General Clive Strong wrote in an opinion Tuesday.

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who added the wording, said it is intended only as a restatement of what lawmakers originally planned.

Adjudication is scheduled to occur in three phases, the first dealing partly with the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer. Later, the department will work on the Palouse River basin and the Kootenai and Clark Fork/Pend Oreille river basins, completing water adjudication in the state.

All three phases are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, said the language is a response to North Idaho residents who are concerned about the cost of adjudication or losing their water rights through the process.

If Panhandle residents oppose the process, the Legislature can always cut its funding or change the scope of the program, Eskridge said.

“This is not a done deal,” he said.

Eskridge contended that water in North Idaho, unlike southern parts of the state, isn’t overused, so people question the need for adjudication. But it might be better to act proactively to become prepared in case of a challenge by Washington, he said.

Although Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, voted against the bill, he later changed his mind based on the attorney general’s opinion. He said sorting out water rights is like going to the dentist: It’s expensive and it’s not pleasant, but it’s necessary.

The House voted 62-5 in favor of the bill, which now goes to Gov. Butch Otter for approval.