$30 million water infrastructure bill advances in Idaho Legislature – East Idaho News

BOISE — Eastern Idaho irrigators are one step closer to seeing a legislation providing ongoing funding for aquifer recharge and water storage projects become law.

On Friday morning, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) voted 15-5 to approve a motion to fund Gov. Brad Little’s $30 million 2025 budget request for ongoing funding for water projects.

“It’s a historic move,” JFAC Co-Chairwoman Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said. “There is a trickle-down effect for any recharge and storage that we do here. It benefits not only us but everyone downstream.”

Since 2019, the Legislature has appropriated nearly $600 million toward water projects statewide, but only $24 million has been invested in southeast Idaho for aquifer recharge and storage, she said.

According to the motion, the funding can be used for:

• Aquifer recharge, groundwater management, and other projects aimed at sustaining aquifer health and long-term water availability;
• Development and rehabilitation of water storage and conveyance systems, including reservoirs, diversion structures, pipelines and canals;
• Water supply and delivery improvements that enhance efficiency and conservation;
• Emergency water infrastructure repairs and upgrades to ensure the resilience of vital water systems.

In a statement Friday, Little thanked the Idaho Legislature for taking action on this legislation.

“Idaho farmers worked hard last year to arrive at a new water deal that protects Idaho agriculture and secures Idaho’s water sovereignty,” Little said. “The success of the new deal hinges on the infrastructure projects this funding will help cover.

He said the legislation is necessary for the state to maintain control of its own water resources.

“I appreciate the Idaho Legislature for keeping this important issue at the forefront so Idaho does not turn out like other states in the Colorado Basin that ceded control of their water to the courts, the federal government, or other states,” he said in the statement.

Sen. Burtenshaw’s bill stalled in House

A previous piece of legislation to provide $30 million in ongoing funds for water infrastructure — S.B. 1128 sponsored by Senator Van Burtenshaw, R-Terreton — flew through the Senate on a 26-10-1 vote on March 3.

It’s been tied up in the House Resources and Conservation Committee ever since.

Lawmakers were debating whether the $30 million should be allocated every single year and be distributed across the state or just in eastern Idaho.

“The purpose of it is to help with recharge. It’s to help with projects to increase the amount of water that we’re putting into the aquifer,” said Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley. “We have hundreds of thousands of acre-feet that are flowing down the river every single year because we have no infrastructure to capture it.”

Fuhriman said the state needs to construct additional infrastructure, such as aquifer recharge sites and recharge wells, to efficiently transfer water into the aquifer.

“We don’t (currently) have enough room in the reservoirs, and we don’t have the ability to transfer into the aquifer, and so it just flows down the river,” he explained.

Rep. Jerald Raymond, R-Menan, said additional water infrastructure is necessary for groundwater appropriators and the Surface Water Coalition to meet the terms of the stipulated mitigation plan approved last fall.

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Multiple irrigation groups sent letters and were worried that the bill had stalled in the House, and the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee took up the matter on Friday.

“It passed committee, so we will create the bill with that appropriation in it and send it to the House and the Senate for them to make the final decision,” Horman said.

Horman said she a strong supporter of aquifer recharge. She met with Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke and Rep. Van Burtenshaw last week to reach a compromise on one aspect of the legislation.

“What I was fighting for was an earmark, which was that in year one of this ongoing appropriation, the money would be earmarked for the success of the 2024 settlement agreement,” she said. “We agreed to a compromise where they would agree to support earmarking, and I would agree to support ongoing funding.”

The measure includes a provision that in the coming year, half of the funds will be allocated to District 3 and half to District 4 — earmarking the funds for eastern Idaho and the Magic Valley.

“We have sent a lot of money to other parts of the state and I supported every dime of that money, but this (time) the need was in southern Idaho,” Horman said.

Raymond said there was a small difference between JFAC’s motion — an “appropriation with intent” — and Burtenshaw’s original bill — “a policy bill with a request for funding.”

He’s grateful the measure is moving forward.

“Water is a shared resource … with every citizen of the state, so it does have an obligation to plan and fund these projects,” Raymond said.

He anticipates the House and Senate will support the measure before adjourning in the coming weeks.

“Every year we have what we call a going home bill. We can’t come home till it’s passed,” Raymond said. “This is that bill this year.”