Water Rights and Budget Cuts

I found this article on the US Water News wesbite, regarding Idaho's Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP), a plan which will cost $100 million in its first 10 years. The plan to manage the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer in Idaho faces serious problems with current budget cuts due to a poor economy.

Boise, Idaho

The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer provides drinking water for about one third of Idaho’s population in the eastern part of the state. Most of the water is used for agriculture, irrigating about 60% of Idaho's total irrigated acres. About half of the irrigation water is
ground-water, and the other half is surface water.

Drought and extensive ground-water pumping over the past half century have depleted this aquifer and resulting in lawsuits over water rights between surface and ground-water users. The plan intends to recharge the aquifer and to change how the water is used to resolve these disputes and preserve a vital aquifer for the eastern part of the state.

The real trouble faced by this plan is whether or not it will be passed. Extreme budget cuts threaten to prevent this measure from being passed, as it calls for $3 million per year to come from the state. The plan has been approved by the Water Resource Board, and now it must be passed by the Legislature.

The plan is a culmination of the cooperation among water users, agency staff, and consultants to create a feasible water management solution for the aquifer in both the long-term and the short-term.