Title 42 — IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE — WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION

42-1004. Conduct of hearing — Order — Appeal. Said board of commissioners may adjourn or postpone any hearing from time to time as may be found necessary; but when in session they shall hear and examine all legal testimony or proofs offered by any party interested as aforesaid, a…

42-1005. Matters considered in fixing rate. In fixing the rates at which water shall be furnished, the board of commissioners shall take into consideration the cost of the works, the expense of keeping the same in repair, and all other conditions that affect the cost of deliverin…

42-1102. Owners of land — Right to right-of-way. (1) Owners or claimants to land that do not have sufficient length of frontage on a stream to afford the requisite fall for a ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or other conduit on their own premises for the proper irrigation or drainag…

42-1104. Right-of-way over state lands. The right-of-way over and upon any and all lands owned or controlled by the state of Idaho is hereby granted to any and all persons for the purpose of constructing and maintaining any ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit or other works for…

42-1105. RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR DIVERSION WORKS. A water right owner has the right to install, operate, and maintain diversion works at the authorized point of diversion in any of the waters of the state described in section 42-101, Idaho Code, for the purpose of diverting and conveyin…

42-1106. Right of eminent domain. In case of the refusal of the owners or claimants of any lands, through which any ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit is proposed to be made or constructed, to allow passage thereof, the person or persons desiring the right-of-way may procee…

42-1107. Right of way for drains. Whenever the owner or owners of any parcel or parcels of land desire to construct a drain for the purpose of carrying off surplus water, and they cannot agree among themselves or with the parties who own land below through which it is expedient t…

42-1201. operation and maintenance of irrigation conveyance facilities. (1) Every person or entity owning or controlling any ditch, canal, lateral, or conduit for the purpose of irrigation shall: (a) During the time the ditch, canal, lateral, or conduit is operated to deliver wat…

42-1207. relocation and piping of irrigation conveyance facilities and drainage facilities. (1) Where any ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or buried irrigation conduit has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, constructed across or beneath the lands of another: (a) The servient esta…

42-1208. Easements, rights-of-way, and other real property not subject to adverse possession. The easements, rights-of-way, or real property owned by irrigation districts, Carey act operating companies, nonprofit irrigation entities, lateral ditch associations, and drainage distr…

42-1209. Encroachments on easements and rights-of-way. (1) Easements or rights-of-way operated, maintained, controlled or owned by irrigation districts, Carey act operating companies, nonprofit irrigation entities, lateral ditch associations, and drainage districts are essential …

42-1301. Organization — Officers — Rules. When three (3) or more parties each own or possess and control land with appurtenant water rights which each are entitled to receive from the same point or points of delivery in a canal or reservoir, or from the same point or points of di…

42-1302. Lateral manager — Election — Duties. Should any water users’ association at its annual meeting fail to elect a lateral manager or fix his compensation such lateral manager may be elected by the board of directors of such association, who may also fix his compensation. Th…

42-1303. Lateral ditches — Repairs, improvements, and maintenance — Assessment of costs. The operation, improvement, repair and maintenance of any such lateral or distributing ditch shall be under the direction of the directors of the association. Following the association’s annu…

42-1304. Assessments — Notice — Penalties for delinquency. On or before the fifteenth day of April in each year the secretary of the association shall notify each water user of the amount assessed against him for that year as herein authorized, and the same shall be due and payab…

42-1305. Delinquent users not entitled to water. No water user shall be entitled to demand or receive water from said lateral whenever any such assessment is due and unpaid, and the lateral manager shall not distribute any water to such water user while delinquent in such payment…

42-1306. Collection and disbursement of funds. The lateral manager shall collect all assessments so made and pay the same to the secretary-treasurer taking his receipt therefor. The secretary-treasurer of this association shall keep the funds of the association in the name of the…

42-1307. Action for assessment — Attorneys’ fees. In case any assessment, as herein provided for is due and unpaid the association may sue to collect the same, in the name of its secretary-treasurer as such, in any court of competent jurisdiction, and in addition to the amount du…

42-1308. Appointment of lateral manager by director of department of water resources. (1) In the event that the water users or the board of directors of any lateral or ditch association do not meet and elect a lateral manager as provided for in this chapter or a lateral manager i…

42-1309. Association authorized to borrow money, mortgage or pledge assets. Lateral ditch water users’ associations are expressly authorized to borrow money from any private or governmental source, to be repaid over a period of years, and to levy assessments over such period of y…

42-1310. Lateral ditches — Repairs, improvements and maintenance by irrigation delivery entities. In the event that a water users’ association of lateral or laterals has not been constituted on a particular lateral or distributing ditch pursuant to this chapter, any individual wa…

42-1311. AMOUNT AND LIEN OF ASSESSMENTS. The amount assessed against each water user, together with any penalties and interest, shall be a lien upon the water user’s land that is entitled to receive water from the point or points of delivery in the canal or reservoir, or from the…

42-1312. WITHDRAWAL FROM LATERAL WATER USERS’ ASSOCIATION. A water user may withdraw from the association by providing written notice and proof that the water user’s land is no longer entitled to receive water from the point or points of delivery in the canal or reservoir, or fro…

42-1313. WATER USER DEFINED. As used in this chapter, "water user" means each person or entity that is a member of a lateral water users’ association because they own or possess and control land that is entitled to receive water from the point or points of delivery in the canal o…

42-1401. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that the state laws and procedures for the adjudication of rights to the use of water need to be modified: (1) to provide a statutory procedure for incorporating a negotiated agreement between a federal reserved wate…

42-1401A. Definitions. The following terms are defined for purposes of this chapter as follows: (1) "Claimant" means any person asserting ownership of rights to the use of water within the state of Idaho or on whose behalf ownership of rights to the use of water is asserted. (2) …

42-1401B. Role of the director in an adjudication. (1) The director’s role under this chapter is as an independent expert and technical assistant to assure that claims to water rights acquired under state law are accurately reported in accordance with the procedures of chapter 14…

42-1401C. Role of state agencies other than the Idaho department of water resources in an adjudication. (1) Each state agency, and the Idaho water resource board may file a claim and appear separately in any adjudication through the attorney general. This section shall not apply …

42-1401D. Jurisdictional limitation. Review of an agency action of the department of water resources, which is subject to judicial review or declaratory judgment under the provisions of chapter 52, title 67, Idaho Code, shall not be heard in any water rights adjudication proceedi…

42-1402. Decreed rights appurtenant to land — Water rights established under federal law excepted. In allotting the waters of any water system by the district court according to the rights and priorities of those using such waters, such allotment shall be made to the use to which…

42-1403. Certified copies of allotments. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court in each of the counties of this state to prepare at the expense of the county, and transmit without delay to the department of water resources by express or registered mail, a certifi…

42-1404. Private actions for adjudication of water rights. (1) Any claimant may file suit in the district court for the county in which the point of diversion or place of use of the claimed right is located for the purpose of adjudicating rights to the use of water from any water…

42-1405. General adjudication — Public interest. (1) Five (5) or more or a majority of the users of water from any water system may petition the director to request the attorney general to file an action to commence a general adjudication. If the director deems that the public in…

42-1406. General adjudication — Contents of petition. (1) A petition for a general adjudication shall contain among other things, the following: (a) a description of the proposed boundaries of the water system to be adjudicated and administered; (b) a statement of why the public …

42-1406B. Northern Idaho water rights adjudications — Commencement. (1) Effective management of the waters of northern Idaho requires that a comprehensive determination of the nature, extent and priority of the rights of users of surface and ground water be determined. Therefore,…

42-1406C. BEAR RIVER WATER RIGHTS ADJUDICATION — COMMENCEMENT. (1) Effective management of the waters of the Bear River basin requires that a comprehensive determination of the nature, extent, and priority of the rights of all users of surface and ground water be determined. Ther…

42-1406D. KOOTENAI RIVER WATER RIGHTS ADJUDICATION — COMMENCEMENT. (1) Effective management of the waters of the Kootenai River basin requires that a comprehensive determination of the nature, extent, and priority of the rights of all users of surface and ground water be determin…

42-1407. General adjudication — Venue — Notice of filing — Commencement order. (1) A general adjudication shall be brought in any district court in which any part of the water system within the state of Idaho is located. The clerk of the district court in which the petition is fi…

42-1408. Service of notice of order commencing a general adjudication. (1) Upon entry of a district court’s order commencing a general adjudication, the director shall prepare a notice of order, using plain and concise language, that contains the following information or enclosur…

42-1409. Notice of claim. (1) The director shall prepare and furnish on request a standard notice of claim form. The notice of claim form shall include the following: (a) The name and address of the claimant; (b) The source of water; (c) The quantity of water claimed: (i) The qua…

42-1409A. Amendment of notice of claims — Late notice of claims. (1) A claimant may amend a notice of claim or file a late notice of claim at any time prior to the final date for filing notices of claim in the notice of second round service as provided in subsection (4) of sectio…

42-1410. Examination of water system and of claims. (1) Upon entry of the court’s order commencing a general adjudication, or as provided in section 42-1404 or 42-1424, Idaho Code, the director shall commence an examination of the water system, the canals and ditches and other wo…

42-1411. Report of the director. (1) The director shall prepare a director’s report on the water system. The director may file the director’s report in parts as the director deems appropriate. The director may include such explanatory material as he deems appropriate in the direc…

42-1411A. Service of notice of and determination of water rights established under federal law. (1) The district court shall determine the water rights established under federal law in accordance with the procedures established in this section. (2) The district court shall determ…

42-1412. Objections — Responses to objections — Hearing before district judge — Entry of final decree. (1) Any claimant who desires to object to a water right, or to a general provision in the director’s report, shall file an objection with the district court within the time spec…

42-1413. Filing of final decree. (1) When a decree has become final in an adjudication in which the director filed a report, the director shall file a certified copy of the decree or a transcript thereof in the office of the county recorder of each county in which the place of us…

42-1414. Fees for filing notice of claims with the director. (1) In order to provide an adequate and equitable cost-sharing formula for financing the costs of adjudicating water rights the department of water resources shall accept no notice of claim required under the provisions…

42-1415. Enforcement of filing fees. After filing of the director’s report in a general adjudication, the director may prohibit in accordance with chapter 3, title 42, Idaho Code, the diversion and use of water in satisfaction of a right claimed or decreed in the adjudication upo…

42-1416B. Claim for expanded use in critical ground water area — Determination of water availability. (1) Within any critical ground water area designated pursuant to section 42-233a, Idaho Code, a claim to the expanded use of a ground water right, which use was expanded in viola…

42-1417. General adjudication — Interim administration of water rights. (1) The district court may permit the distribution of water pursuant to chapter 6, title 42, Idaho Code: (a) in accordance with the director’s report or as modified by the court’s order; (b) in accordance wit…