Curtailment order issued for some ground water users in Snake River Plain

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - Junior ground water users for the Snake River Plain will soon be subject to curtailment which means they could be without water for all of this year.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources issued the order Friday after predicting a 162,600 acre-foot shortfall to senior priority surface water users in the Eastern Snake River Plain.

The shortfall will curtail more than 328 ground water right users in the coming weeks.

IDWR gave this order to junior ground water users in the Snake River Plain only. Senior surface water users have direct access from rivers and streams. Junior ground water users have to use pumps to get the water from a well.

Water managers said the motto for this order is based on a "first-come, first-serve" scenario. The senior surface water users always have the right of way toward the water since they don't require the pumps.

The drought has forced the department to make this order. Hydrologists predict if they use the typical amount of water needed this year, they will be short thousands of acres of land without any water. Mitigation plans thus must be met by every irrigation user to prevent this from happening.

In order to avoid curtailment, junior ground water users will need to show their water mitigation plan by May 20th.