Idaho Administrative Code
Title IDAPA 37 - Water Resources, Department of
Rule 37.03.08 - WATER APPROPRIATION RULES
Section 37.03.08.045 - EVALUATION CRITERIA

Universal Citation: ID Admin Code 37.03.08.045

Current through August 31, 2023

01. Criteria for Evaluating All Applications to Appropriate Water. The Director will use the following criteria in evaluating whether an application to appropriate unappropriated water or trust water should be approved, denied, approved for a smaller amount of water or approved with conditions. (3-18-22)

a. Criteria for determining whether the proposed use will reduce the quantity of water under existing water rights. A proposed use will be determined to reduce the quantity of water under an existing water right (i.e., injure another water right) if: (3-18-22)
i. The amount of water available under an existing water right will be reduced below the amount recorded by permit, license, decree or valid claim or the historical amount beneficially used by the water right holder under such recorded rights, whichever is less. (3-18-22)

ii. The holder of an existing water right will be forced to an unreasonable effort or expense to divert his existing water right. Protection of existing groundwater rights are subject to reasonable pumping level provisions of Section 42-226, Idaho Code; or (3-18-22)

iii. The quality of the water available to the holder of an existing water right is made unusable for the purposes of the existing user's right, and the water cannot be restored to usable quality without unreasonable effort or expense. (3-18-22)

iv. An application that would otherwise be denied because of injury to another water right may be approved upon conditions which will mitigate losses of water to the holder of an existing water right, as determined by the Director. (3-18-22)

v. The provisions of Subsection 045.01.a.v. are not intended to require compensation or mitigation for loss of flow to holders of subordinated hydropower rights or those from which trust water is reallocated. (3-18-22)

b. Criteria for determining whether the water supply is insufficient for the proposed use. The water supply will be determined to be insufficient for the proposed use if water is not available for an adequate time interval in quantities sufficient to make the project economically feasible (direct benefits to applicant must exceed direct costs to applicant), unless there are noneconomic factors that justify application approval. In assessing such noneconomic factors, the Director will also consider the impact on other water rights if the project is abandoned during construction or after completion, the impact on public resource values, and the cost to local, state and federal governments of such an abandonment. (3-18-22)

c. Criteria for determining whether the application is made in good faith. The criteria requiring that the Director evaluate whether an application is made in good faith or whether it is made for delay or speculative purposes requires an analysis of the intentions of the applicant with respect to the filing and diligent pursuit of application requirements. The judgment of another person's intent can only be based upon the substantive actions that encompass the proposed project. Speculation for the purpose of this rule is an intention to obtain a permit to appropriate water without the intention of applying the water to beneficial use with reasonable diligence. Speculation does not prevent an applicant from subsequently selling the developed project for a profit or from making a profit from the use of the water. An application will be found to have been made in good faith if: (3-18-22)
i. The applicant shall have legal access to the property necessary to construct and operate the proposed project, has the authority to exercise eminent domain authority to obtain such access, or in the instance of a project diverting water from or conveying water across land in state or federal ownership, has filed all applications for a right-of-way. Approval of applications involving Desert Land Entry or Carey Act filings will not be issued until the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management has issued a notice classifying the lands suitable for entry; and (3-18-22)

ii. The applicant is in the process of obtaining other permits needed to construct and operate the project; and (3-18-22)

iii. There are no obvious impediments that prevent the successful completion of the project. (3-18-22)

d. Criteria for determining whether the applicant has sufficient financial resources to complete the project. (3-18-22)
i. An applicant will be found to have sufficient financial resources upon a showing that it is reasonably probable that funding is or will be available for project construction or upon a financial commitment letter acceptable to the Director. This showing is required as described in Subsection 040.05.c. or at the time the hearing provided by Subsection 040.05.c. is conducted. (3-18-22)

ii. A governmental entity will be determined to have satisfied this requirement if it has the taxing, bonding or contracting authority necessary to raise the funds needed to commence and pursue project construction in accordance with the construction schedule. (3-18-22)

e. Criteria for determining whether the project conflicts with the local public interest. The Director will consider the following, along with any other factors he finds to be appropriate, in determining whether the project will conflict with the local public interest: (3-18-22)
i. The effect the project will have on the economy of the local area affected by the proposed use as determined by the employment opportunities, both short and long term, revenue changes to various sectors of the economy, short and long term, and the stability of revenue and employment gains; (3-18-22)

ii. The effect the project will have on recreation, fish and wildlife resources in the local area affected by the proposed use; and (3-18-22)

iii. An application which the Director determines will conflict with the local public interest will be denied unless the Director determines that an over-riding state or national need exists for the project or that the project can be approved with conditions to resolve the conflict with the local public interest. (3-18-22)

02. Criteria for Evaluating Whether a Proposed Use of Trust Water Will Cause a Significant Reduction. Reference: Section 42-203C(1), Idaho Code and Subsection 025.02.b. For purposes of reallocating trust water made available by the Snake River water rights agreement, an application for permit or a permit being reprocessed, will be presumed to not cause a significant reduction if the Director determines that it complies with both the individual and cumulative tests for evaluating significant reduction as provided in Subsections 045.02.a. and 045.02.b. (3-18-22)

a. Individual test for evaluating significant reduction. A proposed use will be presumed to not cause a significant reduction if when fully developed and its impact is fully felt, the use will individually reduce the flow of the Snake River measured at Murphy Gauge by not more than two (2) acre-feet per day. An irrigation project of two hundred (200) acres or less located anywhere in the Snake River Basin above Murphy Gauge proposing to use trust water is presumed to not reduce the flow at Murphy Gauge by more than two (2) acre-feet per day. The presumption of this section is not applicable to applications or permits to be reprocessed which the Director determines to be part of a larger development. (3-18-22)

b. Cumulative test for evaluating significant reduction. A proposed use will be presumed to not cause a significant reduction, if the use, when fully developed and its impact is fully felt and when considered cumulatively with other existing uses and other uses reasonably likely to exist within twelve (12) months of the proposed use, will not deplete the flow of Snake River measured at Murphy Gauge by more than: (3-18-22)
i. Forty thousand (40,000) acre-feet per calendar year when considered with all other uses approved for development of trust water during that calendar year; (3-18-22)

ii. Forty thousand (40,000) acre-feet per calendar year using a four (4) year moving average when considered with all other uses approved for development of trust water during that four (4) year period; and (3-18-22)

iii. Twenty thousand (20,000) acre-feet per calendar year from filings approved for reallocation of trust water which meet the criteria of Subsection 045.02.a. (3-18-22)

c. The Director will determine on a case-by-case basis from available information whether a permit to be reprocessed or an application for trust water which exceeds the flow depletion limits of Subsection 045.02, or one which meets the flow depletion limits but has been protested, will cause a significant reduction. In making this determination, the Director will consider: (3-18-22)
i. The amount of the reduction in hydropower generation that the proposed use will cause individually and cumulatively with other uses expected to be developed within twelve (12) months of the proposed use as compared to the existing hydropower generation output of the affected facility or facilities. (3-18-22)

ii. The relative importance of the affected hydropower facility or facilities to other sources of electrical power generation available to the holder of the facility or facilities. (3-18-22)

iii. The timing of the reduction in hydropower generation both on an annual basis and on a long-term basis considering the lag time between the beginning of diversion by the proposed use and the resulting reduction in hydropower generation. (3-18-22)

iv. The effect of the reduction in hydropower generation on the unit cost of hydropower from the facility or facilities and the average cost of electrical power offered by the holder of the facility. (3-18-22)

v. The terms of contracts, mortgages, or regulatory permits and licenses which require the holder of the hydropower generation facility to retain the capability to produce hydroelectric power at a specific level. (3-18-22)

d. Other provisions of these rules not withstanding, applications or permits to be reprocessed proposing a direct diversion of water for irrigation purposes from the Snake River between Milner Dam and Swan Falls Dam or from tributary springs in this reach are presumed to cause a significant reduction. (3-18-22)

e. Other provisions of these rules not withstanding, applications or permits to be reprocessed for DCMI purposes are presumed to not cause a significant reduction. (3-18-22)

03. Criteria for Evaluating Public Interest. If the Director determines that a proposed use of trust water held by the state pursuant to Section 42-203B(5), Idaho Code, will cause a significant reduction, the Director will consider the criteria of Section 42-203 C(2), Idaho Code, before acting on the application or permit being reprocessed. The Director shall consider and balance the relative benefits and detriments for each factor required to be weighed under Section 42-203 C(2), Idaho Code, to determine whether a proposed reduction of the amount of water available for power production serves the greater public interest. The Director shall evaluate whether the proposed use sought in the permit being reprocessed or the application will provide the greater benefit to the people of the state of Idaho when balanced against other uses for the same water resource. In evaluating the public interest criteria, the Director will use the following guidelines: (3-18-22)

a. The Director will consider the potential benefits both direct and indirect, and that the proposed use would provide to the state and local economy. The economic appraisal shall be based upon generally accepted economic analysis procedures which uniformly evaluate the following factors within the state of Idaho and the county or counties directly affected by the project: (3-18-22)
i. Direct project benefits. (3-18-22)

ii. Indirect benefits including net revenues to the processing, transportation, supply, service and government sectors of the economy. (3-18-22)

iii. Direct project costs, to include the opportunity cost of previous land use. (3-18-22)

iv. Indirect project costs, including verifiable costs to government in net lost revenue and increased regulation costs, verifiable reductions in net revenue resulting from losses to other existing instream uses, and the increased cost of replacing reduced hydropower generation from unsubordinated hydropower generating facilities. (3-18-22)

b. The Director will consider the impact the proposed use would have upon the electric utility rates in the state of Idaho, and the availability, foreseeability and cost of alternative energy sources to ameliorate such impact. These evaluations will include the following considerations: (3-18-22)
i. Projections of electrical supply and demand for Idaho and the Pacific Northwest made by the Bonneville Power Administration and the Northwest Power Planning Council and information available from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission or from the electric utility from whose water right trust water is being reallocated. (3-18-22)

ii. The long term reliability of the substitute source and the cost of alternatives including the resulting impact on electrical rates. (3-18-22)

c. The Director will consider whether the proposed use will promote the family farming tradition in the state of Idaho. For purposes of this evaluation, the Director will use the following factors. (3-18-22)

d. If the total land to be irrigated by the applicant, including currently owned and leased irrigated land and land proposed to be irrigated in the application and other applications and permits of the applicant, do not exceed nine hundred sixty (960) acres, the application will be presumed to promote the family farming tradition. (3-18-22)

e. If the requirement of Subsection 045.03.c.i. is not met, the Director will consider the extent the applicant conforms to the following characteristics: (3-18-22)
i. The farming operation developed or expanded as a result of the application is operated by the applicant or a member of his family (spouse, parents or grandparents, lineal descendants, including those that are adopted, lineal descendants of parents; and spouse of lineal descendants); (3-18-22)

ii. In the event the application is filed in the name of a partnership, one or more of the partners shall operate the farming operation; and (3-18-22)

iii. If the application is in the name of a corporation, the number of stockholders does not exceed fifteen (15) persons, and one or more of the stockholders operates the farming operation unless the application is submitted by an irrigation district, drainage district, canal company or other water entity authorized to appropriate water for landowners within the district or for stockholders of the company all of whom shall meet the family farming criteria. (3-18-22)

f. The Director will consider the promotion of full economic and multiple use development of the water resources of the state of Idaho. In this regard, the extent to which the project proposed complies with the following factors will be considered: (3-18-22)
i. Promotes and conforms with the adopted State Water Plan; (3-18-22)

ii. Provides for coordination of proposed and existing uses of water to maximize the beneficial use of available water supplies; (3-18-22)

iii. Utilizes technology economically available to enhance water and energy use efficiency; (3-18-22)

iv. Provides multiple use of the water, including multipurpose storage; (3-18-22)

v. Allows opportunity for reuse of return flows; (3-18-22)

vi. Preserves or enhances water quality, fish, wildlife, recreation and aesthetic values; (3-18-22)

vii. Provides supplemental water supplies for existing uses with inadequate supplies. (3-18-22)

g. The Director will consider whether a proposed use, which includes irrigation, will conform to a staged development policy of up to twenty thousand (20,000) acres per year or eighty thousand (80,000) acres in any four (4) year period in the Snake River drainage above Murphy Gauge. In applying this criteria, the Director will consider the following: (3-18-22)
i. "Above Murphy gauge" means the Snake River and any of its surface or groundwater tributaries upstream from Murphy gauge which gauge is located on the Snake River approximately four (4) miles downstream from Swan Falls Dam from which trust water is to be reallocated; (3-18-22)

ii. Twenty thousand (20,000) acres per year or eighty thousand (80,000) acres per four (4) year period is a four (4) year moving average of Twenty thousand (20,000) acres/year of permits issued during a calendar year for irrigation development. If permits for development of less than twenty-thousand (20,000) acres are issued in a year, additional development in excess of twenty-thousand (20,000) acres can be permitted in succeeding years. Likewise, if more than twenty thousand (20,000) acres is permitted in one year (recognizing that a single large project could exceed twenty thousand (20,000) acres) the permitted development in succeeding years must be correspondingly less to maintain no greater than a twenty thousand (20,000) acres/year average for any four (4) year period; (3-18-22)

iii. The criteria of Subsection 045.03.g. applies to multiple-use projects with irrigation as a principal purpose. Projects which use irrigation as only an incidental purpose, such as the land treatment of waste, shall not be included within this policy; and (3-18-22)

iv. An application determined by the Director to be otherwise approvable but found to exceed the acreage limitations, when considered with other applications approved for development, may be approved with conditions providing for the construction of project works and beneficial use of water to be commenced in a future year. (3-18-22)

h. No single public interest criterion will be entitled to greater weight than any other public interest criterion. (3-18-22)

i. Until such time as the studies prescribed in Policy 32 I of the State Water Plan are completed and accepted by the Idaho Water Resource Board, applications and permits reprocessed which propose to divert water to surface storage from the Snake River and surface tributaries upstream from Murphy Gauging Station shall be presumed to satisfy the public interest criteria of Section 42-203 C(2), Idaho Code. Applications or reprocessed permits which are approved prior to completion of the studies, will not be subject to additional reprocessing . (3-18-22)

j. Applications for permit for trust water sources filed prior to July 1, 1985, for projects for which diversion and beneficial use was complete prior to October 1, 1984, are presumed to satisfy the public interest criteria of Section 42-203C(2), Idaho Code. (3-18-22)

k. Applications or permits to be reprocessed proposing a direct diversion of water for irrigation purposes from the Snake River between Milner Dam and Swan Falls Dam or from tributary springs in this reach are presumed not to be in the public interest as defined by Section 42-203C, Idaho Code. Such proposals, are presumed to prevent the full economic and multiple use of water in the Snake River Basin and to adversely affect hydropower availability and electrical energy rates in the state of Idaho. (3-18-22)

l. Proposed DCMI uses which individually do not have a maximum consumptive use of more than two acre-feet/day are presumed to meet the public interest criteria of Section 42-203 C(2), Idaho Code, unless protested. (3-18-22)

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