State may create water district here

The Idaho Department of Water Resources may wind up taking unilateral action and establish a groundwater management area for Basin 61, which includes almost all of western Elmore County, if the local groundwater management committee does not present a plan by the end of the year.

Committee member Ron Leydet admitted that "we're not close to voting on anything," at present. IDWR has requested that the local committee develop an action plan to deal with the problem of declining acquifer water supplies in the area.

The regional acquifer, the source of most drinking water for area residents and a large portion of irrigated water, is currently declining at an average rate of two feet per year (in some areas even more), forcing farmers, homeowners and municipalities to drill deeper and deeper to obtain water.

The committee has a number of subcommittees, such as agriculture, domestic and municipal, each developing an action plan for their interests. Those plans will then come together for a final plan that would be approved by the full committee and submitted as a recommendation to IDWR.

But development of those plans has been hindered by differences of opinion within each subcommittee and the committee as a whole, and an overall lack of interest by the public in the group's work. So far, no subcommittee plan has been presented for formal approval. Yet potentially, the end result of the committee's work or the state's actions could mean severe water use restrictions in the area.

IDWR hopes it doesn't get that far. Last fall it told citizens during a public hearing that it hoped the local committee would develop a viable plan to at least halt the decline in the acquifer, noting that it preferred that a local solution be developed rather than simply imposing one of its own.

"We feel the local people usually have a better handle on local issues and may see solutions we don't at the state level," explained Gary Spackman, the regional IDWR administrator.

"We have a serious problem, but the director is reluctant to take unilateral action. We'd like the local people to solve the problem so we don't shove something down their throats." But, Spackman warned, if the local plan doesn't come together soon -- by the end of the year -- IDWR will step in.

IDWR is obligated by state law to preserve water resources in the state. Since 1980 there has been a moratorium on agricultural well drilling in western Elmore County, as a result of the declining acquifer, but additional restrictions on domestic and municipal water uses could be required in the future, if a solution isn't found to halt the acquifer declines.

Leydet said the ag subcommittee had discussed the possibility of limiting drilling for new domestic wells, but had not voted to send that recommendation to the full committee.

Nevertheless, domestic well use has become a concern of the local board of realtors, which is urging all of its members to attend Thursday's meeting of the local groundwater management committee at city hall, beginning at 9 a.m.

Under existing law domestic well users are allowed up to 13,000 gallons of water a day for in-home use and to water/irrigate up to one-half acre of land. Domestic water users are exempt from having to fill out all the forms and go through the notification and hearing processes for obtaining a water right, but Spackman says his interpretation of the law is that they hold a water right, anyway.

That's important because, under a worst-case scenario in which water rights would be restricted or even withdrawn, the state's long-term policy of "first in time, first in right" would apply.

Spackman, and the local committee, hope it doesn't get to that point, but noted that "if it weren't for the domestic exemption, we probably wouldn't be approving any new municipal (wells) or community well subdivisions."

Spackman said he would probably spend this winter preparing the paperwork for hearings that would lead, some time next spring, to formation of a water district in Basin 61. Initially, such a district would be responsible for measuring the use of water (a watermaster would be hired) and regulating rights in times of shortage.

But, Spackman noted, "we can't regulate in times of shortage if we don't know what people are using." So initially, if a district is formed, the watermaster would require much more extensive monitoring of well uses in the basin. Well users would be required to monitor and report their uses and the watermaster would monitor those reports and make spot-checks.

"My goal is to at least start the monitoring process, but not do any regulating," unless it becomes absolutely necessary Spackman said.

Spackman said under the worst-case scenario, while an individual could drill a well, the state could prevent them from pumping any water from it. In only one area of the state, near Lewiston, has the problem of acquifer declines become so bad that the state has had to halt new domestic well pumping.

The state has been spot-monitoring the local regional acquifer for nearly two decades. Depending on how deep people are willing to drill, the local acquifer, which has a very slow recharge rate, could actually run out of water in 30-100 years. A number of local well users have had to extend the depth of their wells already because of the falling acquifer.

"The concern for the realities are real. The public should be concerned," Spackman said.

Leydet said the local committee, which is trying to develop a water management plan before the state imposes one, has been strongly encouraging local input, but to a large extent, their efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

"We've got a problem. We need to solve it and we need to do it quickly, now," he said.

The local committee normally meets at 9 a.m. on the first Thursday of each month at city hall. Its members urge the community to attend the meetings, take part in the discussions, and offer workable solutions to halt the decline in the acquifer.