After months of negotiations, Idaho farmers reach new long-term water agreement

The South Fork of the Snake River runs for more than 60 miles across southeastern Idaho. (Courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management)

Nearly six months after a water curtailment order sent shockwaves through Idaho’s agricultural community, farmers ratified a new long-term water agreement, the two sides confirmed late Thursday.

Members of the Idaho Surface Water Coalition and the Idaho Ground Water Association signed the agreement, which state officials first unveiled as a potential agreement on Oct. 28.

The new water agreement gives groundwater users their water allotment in four-year increments, instead of handling things one year at a time. That allows farmers to plan out and manage their own water usage.

“It was a tough year of negotiations, but I never doubted our farmers could get this done,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in a written statement Thursday. “Idahoans have always solved our own problems, and the new mitigation plan charts a better path for all water users in the years ahead while ensuring Idahoans maintain control of our water destiny, not other states, the feds, or the courts.”

The new agreement also calls for groundwater districts to conserve a minimum of 250,000 acre-feet of water annually. An acre-foot is a unit of volume that measures the amount of water it would take to cover an acre of land in water one foot deep. For comparison, an acre is slightly smaller than the size of a football field. 

“Navigating the past few months has been daunting; our members have come in early and stayed late during harvest season to work through the very real issues addressing our water situation here in Idaho. While our surface water members were satisfied with the original mitigation agreement from 2016 that put the preservation of the ESPA first, we entered into negotiations with an open mind and willingness to listen to our fellow farmers about their concerns,” Twin Falls Canal Co. General Manager Jay Barlogi said in a written statement. “Ultimately, we feel that these in-depth conversations with our neighbors allowed us all to reach an acceptable path forward to address our water crisis and keep crops growing while resolving outstanding litigation.”

On May 30, Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver issued a curtailment order requiring 6,400 junior water rights holders who pump off the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer to shut off their water to protect senior water rights holders from a forecasted water shortfall, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 

In Idaho, water disputes are governed by the doctrine of prior appropriation, which means the senior water rights holders have priority over junior water rights holders who could be shut off when there is not enough water to go around. 

Some eastern Idaho farmers told the Sun the May 30 curtailment order could doom family farms that had already invested in planting crops, only to have the water they need for irrigation shut off during the growing season. 

The curtailment order was in place for about three weeks, until the two sides reached an agreement that resolved the issue for this year and ended the curtailment order.

Meanwhile, Little issued an executive order that called on the two sides to reach a new long-term deal. Little asked for them to reach a new water mitigation plan agreement by Oct. 1. The two sides missed the initial deadline, but kept negotiating toward a deal through the fall harvest season, with Little’s blessing. 

The new agreement resolves the disputes between the two sides and does not require legislative approval to be implemented, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke previously said. 

The new agreement also means that groundwater districts that comply with the agreement will be protected from water curtailment. However, if groundwater users use their water allotment before the four years are over, they will be out of water, Idaho Water Resource Board Chairman Jeff Raybould told a legislative interim committee Oct. 28.

After months of negotiations, groundwater users welcomed the new agreement.

“Our districts are pleased to usher in a new agreement that is respectful to the needs of all farmers,” Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, an Idaho Falls Republican who serves as chair of the Idaho Ground Water Appropriators, said in a written statement. “We have always said that a new agreement needs to do two things: protect our shared Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer and not dry up eastern Idaho farmland to do it. This agreement accomplishes both goals and incentivizes farmers to find new ways to support one another.”

T.J. Budge, attorney for the Idaho Ground Water Association, told the Sun on Thursday that now that all parties have signed the agreement, they will submit the mitigation plan to the Idaho Department of Water Resources for formal approval next week.

The new water mitigation plan will go up for review in the fall of 2027, with an opportunity to review it for additional four-year terms, according to the Surface Water Coalition.