2005 Idaho Code - 42-4201 — JEROME, LINCOLN, GOODING AND TWIN FALLS COUNTIES -- PROJECT TO RECHARGE GROUND WATER BASINS -- DIRECTOR\'S AUTHORITY TO ISSUE PERMIT -- LIMITATIONS

                                  TITLE  42
                       IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE -- WATER
                            RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION
                                  CHAPTER 42
                            GROUND WATER RECHARGE
    42-4201.  JEROME, LINCOLN, GOODING AND TWIN FALLS COUNTIES -- PROJECT TO
RECHARGE GROUND WATER BASINS -- DIRECTOR'S AUTHORITY TO ISSUE PERMIT --
LIMITATIONS. (1) The welfare of the people of the state of Idaho is dependent
upon the conservation, development, augmentation and optimum use of the water
resources of this state. The legislature deems it essential therefore that
every effort be made to foster and encourage water projects designed to
promote these objectives. The legislature hereby acknowledges that the
proposed project to recharge ground water basins in Jerome, Lincoln and
Gooding counties by means of the storage of unappropriated waters of the Snake
River and its tributaries in underground lava beds within that vicinity
represents a unique and innovative endeavor to further water conservation and
increase the water available for beneficial use. The legislature approves this
undertaking as a pilot effort to bring about maximum realization of our water
resource potential and finds, in particular, that this project shall serve the
interests of the public and advance the multiple use water policy of this
state by:
    (a)  sustaining and increasing the flow of springs in the general vicinity
    of the Hagerman Valley;
    (b)  increasing the water available for withdrawal from ground water
    basins located in Jerome, Gooding and Lincoln counties;
    (c)  supplementing the supply of water available for irrigation downstream
    from the Hagerman Valley;
    (d)  providing additional aquatic habitats for migratory fowl and
    wildlife; and
    (e)  increasing and sustaining the flow of the Snake River during the
    summer months and in times of drought when additional flow is needed for
    the generation of hydroelectric power and the maintenance of water
    recreation facilities.
    (2)  In view of the public betterment to be achieved by the completion of
this water project, the legislature hereby declares that the appropriation and
underground storage of water by the aquifer recharge district hereinafter
created for purposes of ground water recharge shall constitute a beneficial
use and hereby authorizes the department of water resources to issue to the
aquifer recharge district a permit, pursuant to section 42-203 [42-203A],
Idaho Code, for the appropriation and underground storage of the
unappropriated waters of the Snake River in Jerome, Lincoln and Gooding
counties and its tributaries in Gooding and Lincoln counties. The department
of water resources is further authorized to issue to the aquifer recharge
district a license confirming the right to appropriate such waters for the
beneficial use herein established upon compliance by the district with the
requirements specified in chapter 2, title 42, Idaho Code. The rights acquired
by the aquifer recharge district pursuant to any permit and license obtained
as herein authorized shall be secondary to all prior perfected water rights,
including those held by any privately-owned electrical generating company to
appropriate waters in the reaches of the Snake River downstream from the
Milner diversion for purposes of hydroelectric power generation.
    (3)  The director of the department of water resources may regulate the
amount of water which the aquifer recharge district may appropriate from the
Snake River and may reduce such amount, even though there is sufficient water
to supply the entire amount originally authorized, but only if the following
conditions are met:
    (a)  the amount of water available for appropriation by the district at
    the time the reduction is sought exceeds two hundred thousand (200,000)
    acre feet per year and the reduction, if granted, will not operate to
    deplete that amount to less than two hundred thousand (200,000) acre feet
    per year;
    (b)  the persons or entities seeking the reduction propose to use the
    water for purposes of surface reservoir storage and appropriation by the
    district of the entire amount originally authorized will prevent or
    adversely affect accomplishment of those purposes;
    (c)  the persons or entities seeking the reduction present substantial and
    compelling evidence to show that the accomplishment of such purposes will
    be prevented or adversely affected and the director finds on the basis of
    such evidence that sufficient justification for the reduction exists.
Even if the foregoing conditions are satisfied and a reduction is granted,
such a reduction shall remain in effect only so long as the amount of water
available for appropriation by the district exceeds two hundred thousand
(200,000) acre feet per year.
    The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to appropriation of
water by the district from the Big Wood River or the Little Wood River.
    (4)  To insure that other water rights are not injured by the operations
of the aquifer recharge district, the director of the department of water
resources shall have the authority to approve, disapprove, or require
alterations in the methods employed by the district to achieve ground water
recharge. In the event that the director determines that the district's
methods of operation are adversely affecting existing water rights or are
creating conditions adverse to the beneficial use of water under existing
water rights, the director shall order the cessation of operations until such
alterations as may be ordered by the director have been accomplished or such
adverse effects otherwise have been corrected.
    (5)  The fee required for an application for a permit to appropriate water
as provided in section 42-221, Idaho Code, is hereby waived from the effective
date of this act until July 1, 1997, for recharge projects for recharge
districts formed under this section.