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Following curtailment fight, Idaho water users seek long-term solution • Idaho Capital Sun

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Following curtailment fight, Idaho water users seek long-term solution • Idaho Capital Sun


With the issue temporarily resolved for the year, Idaho water users continue to negotiate toward longer term water solutions that farmers hope will avoid shutting the water off during growing seasons.  

The issue came to a head on May 30 when the Idaho Department of Water resources issued a curtailment order requiring the holders of 6,400 junior groundwater rights to curtail, or shut off, their water, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported

Ultimately, the curtailment order lasted about three weeks until water users reached an agreement for the 2024 irrigation season that the Idaho Department of Water Resources announced June 20

The Idaho Department of Water Resources announced it paused enforcing the curtailment order on June 13 after it became obvious the two sides were working toward a settlement agreement. 

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While the agreement resolves the issue for this year, Gov. Brad Little has asked water users to come up with longer term solutions in the coming weeks. 

Little issued an executive order on June 26 that outlines two new deadlines: 

  • By Sept. 1, the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Council has to submit a new groundwater management plan to be submitted to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
  • By Oct. 1, the surface water user and the groundwater users have to meet and establish an improved mitigation plan.

Several negotiation meetings have taken place over the summer, and I’m confident that farmers will create the solutions that will avoid future water shortages no matter where you farm,” Little wrote in an opinion piece released Wednesday. 

Little stressed that he would not mandate a solution.

“Because the only solution that is acceptable to me is one that is crafted by farmers,” Little wrote. “If we don’t do this together, then the EPA or the courts (or worst, Congress!) will determine our water destiny.”

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Idaho’s lieutenant governor is helping facilitate water talks

Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, is helping facilitate a series of stakeholder meetings between surface water managers and groundwater managers. The two sides met Aug. 7 in Pocatello. Although they did not reach a long-term agreement at that meeting, Bedke said he is encouraged. 

“We made substantial progress today,” Bedke said in an Aug. 7 phone interview. “In everyone I think there has been a decided shift in the thinking a little bit, this acknowledgement that we are all in this together and that we have the tools at our disposal to fix this and never have a repeat of what happened this spring.”

Bedke said the state’s May 30 curtailment order “was not our finest hour.”

“That’s certainly my commitment,” Bedke said. “I will not be a part of anything that puts one side of the state against the other. This is all Idaho. We are all in it together and think we have to end up having something we can work with.” 

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“Having said that, not everybody is going to get everything they want (in a new deal), but they will get everything they need,” Bedke added. “That is certainly my commitment.”

T.J. Budge, general counsel for the Idaho Ground Water Association, said he hopes for a new deal that protects the water for senior water rights holders and removes uncertainty and anxiety for junior groundwater rights holders. He also hopes the state can stabilize the aquifer for future longevity. 

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“At a high level, we are in a place where the water users are in negotiations to try to develop a groundwater management plan that both sides can agree to and can provide a path forward to maintaining the aquifer and keeping farmland in production,” Budge said in a phone interview. 

On Aug. 8, Idaho Department of Water Resources hydrologists reported that water levels in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer increased by 800,000 acre feet in the last year, according to a news release issued by the department. Despite the recent gain, the aquifer has been dwindling for decades. Since 1952, the storage capacity of the aquifer is down by more than 14 million acre feet of water, according to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.

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Acre feet is a unit of volume used to indicate the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land one foot deep.

“Idaho is facing a water shortage underground,” Little wrote Aug. 14. 

Since 1952, we have lost the equivalent of five trillion gallons of water – enough for the domestic use for the total population of Idaho for the next 75 years,” Little added. 

Budge wants to avoid water curtailment during growing seasons, when farmers need to water crops.

“What we learned is you have to curtail a lot of farmland to get a comparatively small benefit in terms of water coming out of the springs at American Falls,” Budge said. “… We think there are much more cost effective ways that don’t involve drying up hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.”

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“In-season curtailment of water for growing crops is problematic, and economically and socially devastating for the state,” Budge added. 

Budge said one of the topics the two sides are still negotiating over is how to mitigate the senior water rights holders when there isn’t enough water to go around.

How do water rights work in Idaho?

Water issues in Idaho are governed by the doctrine of prior appropriation, which means “first in time, first in right.” In other words, the older senior water rights have priority over the more recent junior water rights when there is not enough water to go around. 

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The junior water rights holders have a mitigation plan that identifies how the junior water rights holders will prevent or compensate the senior water rights holders for water shortages. 

This year, the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources said six groundwater districts were not compliance with mitigation plans and issued a May 30 curtailment order that called for 6,400 junior water rights holders who pump of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer to shut off their water due to a predicted water shortage for senior water rights holders. 

After three weeks, the two sides reached a settlement agreement that protected all members of groundwater districts from curtailment for the rest of this year’s irrigation season, the Idaho Department of Water Resources announced June 20.

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Southwest Idaho Health District votes to remove the Covid-19 vaccine

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Southwest Idaho Health District votes to remove the Covid-19 vaccine


NAMPA, Idaho — In October, the Southwest Idaho Health District voted 4-3 to remove the COVID-19 vaccines from its facilities. So, what does this mean to the residents in their six-county district?

  • Southwest Idaho Health District votes to remove COVID-19 vaccines.
  • Board Chair Kelly Aberasturi explains his view on vote.

(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

Owyhee County Commissioner Kelly Aberasturi was one of the three who voted to continue providing vaccines because he feels taking the shot or not is an individual choice, and that the District shouldn’t get in the way of that. “I voted against it but not that I believe in the shot but because I believe it’s individual rights who can make their own decision.”

I asked Aberasturi what the discussion was like before they took the vote. “A couple of the commissioners are pretty conservative, and they just didn’t think that they should be giving out a vaccine that has negative effects on some certain individuals.”

To be clear, the CDC recommends everyone over six months get an updated COVID-19 vaccines and emphasizes they are safe. So where can you go to get one if you are in the Southwest District? I reached out to the Central District Health and they told me anyone can visit their Boise clinic by scheduling an appointment for their immunizations — no matter where they live or work. They accept most insurance and have options for those under-insured or uninsured. They won’t turn anyone away based on where they live.

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The F.D.A.’s top vaccine official urges everyone eligible to get immunized.





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Obituary for Alton Herman Erickson at Eckersell Funeral Home

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Obituary for Alton Herman Erickson at Eckersell Funeral Home


To view the funeral for Skinny click here Alton Herman Erickson, fondly known to all as Skinny, was called home on November 16th, 2024 to the welcoming arms of his Heavenly Father. We are sure he was met by his parents, his older brother, and the infamous members of the



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Bruins’ Cronin Expresses Blunt Thoughts on Win Over Idaho State

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Bruins’ Cronin Expresses Blunt Thoughts on Win Over Idaho State


The UCLA Bruins (4-1) have continued their hot hand on home court this season, staying undefeated at Pauley Pavilion with an 84-70 win over Idaho State on Wednesday night.

Coach Mick Cronin spoke postgame and was quite pleased with the majority of the game but not how his team finished.

“I thought for 30 minutes we played great, then we got up 28 and a bunch of guys were selfish,” Cronin said. “Their mind wasn’t on defense, just try to get a steal, get a layup, go down the other end, try to get mine. We became everything I despise in the last 10 minutes, but the first 30 minutes we were great.”

The Bruins likely should have won this game by way more than 14 points, but a lackluster performance down the stretch led to a much closer ballgame than projected. Cronin knows his team took their pedal off the gas and was very honest in his response to the performance.

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Cronin is a straight-shooter in terms of coaching his team. He does it for the love of his players and the hunger to be great. He is not solely focused on winning conference titles and championships. Instead, he wants his guys to learn the game the right way and be ready for the next level.

“I always go in there and tell them the truth,” Cronin said. “Look at the second-half defensive stats, look at their offensive stats in the second half. Most of it is after we got up 28, which we were up 28 with 10:24 left in the game. ‘I got to get my stats,’ they actually think that matters when it doesn’t matter. No scout gives a damn about your stats, they’re watching the game, they’re watching how you warm up, they’re watching how you act, they’re watching how you compete. They’re not watching your stats, it’s comical. They’re watching your turnovers, your assists, your defense, your decisions, your shooting percentage, they could care less how many points you average.”

The Bruins’ leading scorer in the win was sophomore Sebastian Mack, who finished with 21 points and was 15-16 from the free-throw line. He only made three field goals and the rest of his scoring was produced at the charity stripe due to his ability to get to the rim and get fouled.

Cronin was pleased with how Mack has developed in just a few games this season. After an ugly performance in the loss to New Mexico, Mack has stepped his game up tenfold with three straight games with double-digit scoring and limited turnovers.

“He [Mack] got 16 free throws; again, I think some of that was the other guys — teammates made some shots which helped,” Cronin said. “But he’s just really improving in his pace, in his decision-making. I told him at halftime, I said, ‘I think they’re going to really pack the paint on you in the second half.’ As soon as I went to say it to him, he goes, ‘I know what’s coming.’ He’s a sophomore, he’s getting better, he’s shooting a high percentage. I’ve always loved his toughness, he’s a bright spot for us.”

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The Bruins will get back at it on Friday night when they host Cal State Fullerton (1-4). They have just two more non-conference home games left before they start Big Ten play at Pauley Pavilion against the Washington Huskies. Cronin will continue to improve his guys before the real tests start.

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