US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  42
                       IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE -- WATER
                            RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION
                                  CHAPTER 14
                         ADJUDICATION OF WATER RIGHTS
    42-1427.  DESCRIPTIONS OF WATER RIGHTS -- REPORTING AND DECREEING ELEMENTS
OF A DECREED OR LICENSED WATER RIGHT. (1) Legislative findings:
    (a)  The legislature finds that existing water rights are not uniformly
    described. Many old water rights were simply defined by source, priority
    date and diversion rate. Over time, the legislature and courts have made
    this original description of a water right more specific by the addition
    of  other elements. Because of the increasing demand for water, it is
    important that the elements of a water right be standardized to allow for
    fair and efficient administration of the limited water supply. One (1)
    purpose of chapter 14, title 42, Idaho Code, is to establish, through an
    adjudication a uniform description for surface water rights, ground water
    rights and water rights which include storage.
    (b)  Because of the passage of time it is not possible to establish with
    any degree of certainty the undefined elements of a decreed or licensed
    water right as they existed on the date the right was established, because
    water delivery has occurred based upon the historic water use patterns and
    custom, and because attempts to define elements of a water right based
    upon unknown conditions in existence on the date of the establishment of
    the water right could result in significant impacts upon the claimant, the
    local economy and tax base, the legislature finds that it is in the public
    interest to provide a mechanism to decree previously undefined elements of
    existing water rights based upon conditions existing on the date of
    commencement of the adjudication provided the claimant is not exceeding
    any previously determined and recorded element of the decreed or licensed
    water right.
    (2)  If a licensed or decreed water right does not describe all of the
elements of a water right required in section 42-1409, Idaho Code, the
director shall include in his report recommendations for those elements not
defined by the prior license or decree based upon the extent of beneficial use
of the water right as of the date of the commencement of an adjudication.