ID Irrigation Farmers Discover That Aquifers Have Limits After All; 2024 Shutoff Orders Loom Again In 2025

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In most places, including on the Eastern Snake Plain, irrigators used surface water first. It was not until decades later, in the 1940s, that groundwater became an increasingly popular option as power costs came down and drilling technology improved. With encouragement from politicians and state officials, the alternative water supply brought more farmland into production. For years, Western states like Idaho managed groundwater separately from the springs and rivers that aquifers fed, even as pumping lowered the water table and contributed to shortfalls for surface water users who had claimed water first. Some states, such as Nevada, are just now starting to contend with managing surface water and groundwater as a connected source.

But in Idaho, this began to change in the 1990s when the Surface Water Coalition, which includes the canal company and other users with older water rights with higher priority, made a formal filing, known as a “call on the river,” to request their full water allotment. Doing that meant curtailing groundwater users with newer rights and a lower priority. The move led to a flurry of conflict and litigation that ultimately ended in the state managing the Snake River and its connected aquifer in conjunction with one another. Over time, water users negotiated mitigation plans requiring groundwater users to stabilize the aquifer and offset the shortfall to canal companies by leasing water stored in reservoirs and sending it downstream.

The plan worked for years, but things started to break down in the dry years of 2021 and 2022, when irrigators across the Snake River Basin were struggling to maintain their crops. “It was hot all summer long,” said Alan Jackson, who leads the Bingham Groundwater District, where Young is on the board. “The irrigation requirement was really high.” The Surface Water Coalition alleged that several groundwater districts fell short of the yearly reductions required by the mitigation agreement. The districts pushed back, arguing that they should be credited for reducing use in excess of the requirement during wet years. The dispute culminated with the state finding that certain groundwater districts deviated from the mitigation plan and were subject to a curtailment order, which was issued on May 30.

“We’re heavily dependent on agriculture in Bingham County,” Jackson said. “The loss of 70 percent of our agriculture—it would have been a ghost town. It would have absolutely been devastating.” But the law as written and interpreted by the courts is clear, Patton said. The allocation to those with “senior” rights to divert water from the Snake River get priority over groundwater users. If pumping lowers springs and cuts their supply, groundwater users have to reduce their use through a mitigation plan or face cuts imposed by the state.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072024/idaho-snake-river-aquifer-water-shortages/