by Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun
Snake River water trust users in Idaho won’t be faced with having their water shut off this irrigation season, state officials announced recently.
“Given the intensity of the 2026 drought in the Snake River Basin and the hardships faced by Idaho farmers this year … Gov. (Brad) Little and Idaho Power officials agreed that further hardship with the potential curtailment of trust water rights due to reduced flows at Swan Falls Dam and the Murphy Gage should be avoided,” the Idaho Department of Water Resources said in a news release issued Thursday.
The issue relates to the 1984 Swan Falls Settlement Agreement, which resolved a dispute between Idaho Power and the state over how to balance agriculture water use with water use for hydropower, according to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
The agreement established minimum stream flows at the Murphy Gage near Swan Falls Dam and created new trust water rights.
This year, water levels threatened to fall below the minimum flow requirement for the first time since the 1984 agreement was reached, state officials said.
Normally, If water levels fall below the required minimum flow of 3,900 cubic feet per second, or cfs, near the Swan Falls Dam, the Idaho Department of Water Resources would be required to curtail the water for trust water users.
In June, department officials said they notified more than 4,000 trust water users that curtailment could occur if water flow fell below the minimum level.
However, earlier this year Idaho Power officials wrote to Little saying they would not push for water curtailment this year, Department of Water Resources officials said.
Little agreed, and asked the Idaho Department of Water Resources to secure storage water this year to offset the depleted stream flow, the department said.
“I support Idaho Power’s proposed approach, and I am grateful for their cooperative outreach,” Little wrote in a June 26 letter to Idaho Department of Water Resources Chairman Jeff Raybould.
“Under their proposal the Snake River will not run dry of water for trust water right holders this season, but I want to be equally clear that this is a bridge, not a fix,” Little added in his letter to Raybould. “It buys us time. It does not permanently resolve the underlying tension between the minimum stream flow obligations the state holds under the agreement and the water needs of trust water right holders in a dry year, and it should not be mistaken for a precedent or a permanent agreement.”
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