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Show Chapter 12. IDAHO CONTENTS Page 1. Development of Idaho Water Law______________________________ 259 2. State Organizational Structure for Water Administration and Control__ 260 2.1 Administration of Water Rights________________________ 260 2.2 Resolution of Water Use Conflicts______________________ 261 2.3 Other Agencies Having Water Resource Responsibilities____ 262 3. Surface Waters______________________________________________ 264 3.1 Method of Acquiring Rights___________________________ 264 3.2 Nature and Limit of Rights___________________________ 267 3.3 Changes, Sales, and Transfers__________________________ 269 3.4 Loss of Rights______________________________________ 270 3.5 Storage Waters, Artificial Lakes, and Ponds______________ 272 3.6 Springs____________________________________________ 272 3.7 Diffused Surface Waters______________________________ 273 4. Ground Water______________________________________________ 273 Publications Available__________________________________________ 275 DISCUSSION 1. Development of Idaho Water Law As early as 1881, the Idaho Territorial Legislature adopted legis- lation recognizing appropriation and use of water,1 and in its first reported decision involving water, the Idaho court announced that the first appropriation of water to a beneficial purpose gives the bet- ter right.2 In its second decision involving water, the Idaho Court up- held the claim of a prior appropriator against a riparian proprietor who subsequently entered and patented some of the public land through which the water flowed.3 Subsequent decisions have likewise repudiated the riparian doctrine, at least to the extent that it is in conflict with the appropriation doctrine.4 The Idaho consitution, which was ratified in 1889, contains several sections relating to water. Article XV, section 3, provides that the right to divert and appropriate the unappropriated waters of any natural stream shall never be denied, except that the State may regulate and limit the use thereof for power purposes. This section also provides, except for certain preferences among uses which will be noted later, that priority of appropriation gives the better right between users. The Idaho Legislature later declared that all of the waters of the State, when flowing in their natural channels, and including natural springs and lakes, are the property of the State,5 and that the right to use the waters of rivers, streams, lakes, springs, and iHutchins, The Idaho Law of Water Rights, 7 (1956). 2Malad Valley Irr. Co. v. Campbell, 2 Idaho 411, 18 Pac. 52 (1888). s Drake v. Earhart, 2 Idaho 750, 23 Pac. 541 (1890). * Jones v. Mclntire, 60 Idaho 338, 91 P. 2d 373 (1939); and Maker v. Gentry, 67 Idaho 559, 186 P. 2d 870 (1947). 5 Idaho Code sec. 42-101. 259 499-242-73------18 |
