Teton Valley Water Rights: Whose water is it?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
By Leigh Reagan
If an overflowing spring is meandering through your backyard, it
doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your water for the taking. The real
question is: who has the water rights?
As Victor, Driggs and Swan Valley expand, Idaho is currently rewriting
the rules regarding how Teton Valley residents acquire their water. A
pending court case in the Idaho Supreme Court will dictate how ground
and surface water will be managed.
According to Lou Christensen, the Mayor of Driggs, homebuyers should
ask the developer if they have ownership of the water rights. Houses
close to the city must connect to city water lines. For those off the
city grid, well permits are only being issued for small houses. All
well permits for irrigated wells are currently on hold.
Although this may appear to affect ranchers and farmers the most,
“developers and cities will be somewhere in the middle of this,” says
Christensen. “The water issue has become a big concern for us, because
as we continue to grow, we need more water for cities,” said
Christensen.
Roger Warner, Water Rights Supervisor for the Idaho Department of Water
Resources said, “Ground and surface water used to be treated as two
separate issues.” “We now know that the relationship between
ground and surface water is symbiotic, “If we take more water out of
the ground, if affects how surface water flows.”
Snowmelt and surface water percolate down into the ground replenishing
groundwater and eventually flowing out of the ground as a spring. Teton
River is the perfect example of a spring-fed river. Surface water is
therefore directly affected by the drilling of more wells.
People with Senior Rights – a system based on the date that water was
first delivers to a home – are the first to receive this water.
An irrigation canal built to divert water from a stream in 1885 has
priority over an irrigiation canal built in 1890. The 1885 canal must
fill completely before the 1890 canal is allowed to receive water.
According to Joe Kaufman, Associate Engineer for Water District One,
people are worried that Senior Canal Rights could limit development in
this region, as those owning irrigation canals could claim they deserve
more water, taking it away from new homes and developments. In turn,
those with Senior Canal Rights are worried about new wells dug for
development affecting their water flow.
“People are worried about how they’re going to be managed in relation
to one another,” said Kaufman. The current system, which has
historically worked for the valley, cannot keep up with recent growth.
“When farmers and ranchers diverted water to their land by a ditch,
about half the water was used for cattle and to grow crops and the
other half sunk into the ground to become part of the water aquifer,”
Warner explains. New homes, roads and sprinkler systems draw on the
groundwater that was continually recharging the water aquifer, he
continues.
While the new guy pumping three wells next door may be affecting how
the stream flows, Warner does not believe the future of water in the
valley is all doom and gloom.
“We are facing change. The change will come with our practices,” said
Warner. “Expect a new equilibrium to establish and this could create a
deeper aquifer level. Developers will probably dig deeper wells,” he
continues.
The goal of the Idaho Department of Water Resources is to reach some
sort of balance and to negotiate development with downstream water
users so that there is enough water to sustain the valley and its
residents.
PERMALINK:
Teton Valley Water Rights: Whose water is it? | Planet JH News Article: Victor/Driggs, ID
Leave a Comment