Water rights are an important part of any real property with rights in Idaho. They are not insured by a standard title insurance policy, so it’s important that you have an understanding of your property’s rights. I am not going to focus too much on how to obtain a water right, (it’s a complex process) but rather a general scope of the types, and uses for these rights. To start, I will describe what a water right is.

A water right is basically a “right” to divert water for a beneficial use, such as irrigation, domestic, or commercial use. The diversion is what is used to obtain the water, in the form of a head gate and ditch, well, irrigation pump, etc.

Next, the types of water rights, there are 2 main types – Surface rights, and Ground rights. Surface rights are the rights we see, such as ditches, diversions from creeks, runoffs, springs, and so on. Irrigation ditches carry water for the benefit of the rights owner. Ground water rights are not naturally present at the surface of the ground. Ground rights include drilled wells. Irrigation wells are currently under a moratorium in some areas of the state, in those areas, only rights dating back prior to the moratorium exist. This is because the ground rights users were using the available water for the end users with senior rights. If you do not have Ground rights, however, you can still have a well such as a domestic or culinary well, limited to 13,000 gallons per day and .5 acres of yard irrigation. Other noteworthy “types” would be water you receive from an irrigation district or utility company, and stock water use, Cattle/stock owners are not restricted on use of existing streams on their land for stock water purposes. You should also know that Idaho does not recognize riparian rights, in which the owner of and has the right to make reasonable use of the water under or on their land. Waters in Idaho are considered public waters.

Dates, appropriation, and how rights are established are an important aspect of the above rights. Idaho’s rights to use water when there is a shortage is determined by priority dates, or when the right was established. Prior to 1971, a user could simply divert surface water, and apply it to a beneficial use. These rights must have documentation of when they were first used, which determines their priority date. Ground water could be obtained the same way prior to 1963. These rights are called “beneficial” or “historic” use rights. These rights have now been recorded with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, or IDWR. Rights are now established by an application/permit/license procedure with the IDWR, and that process is contingent on available water and approval.

You can research whether or not you own water rights (water rights in Idaho are privately owned and are considered real property rights, much like property rights in land) with the IDWR, and their interactive website. There are 4 regional offices (N, E, S & Western) all of Teton County is in the Eastern Regional Office. Remember that if you receive your water from an irrigation district or utility, that right will be owned by, and listed under that “company” or owner.

***Source: Idaho Department of Water Resources

Who are the Friends of the Teton River, and what do they do?

Teton Valley is fortunate to have a number of organizations and non profits who’s sole interest is for the good of our community. Perhaps I will describe some of these other organizations in future columns.

I decided to run this week’s ask the expert about this organization, because they were recently able to help me. I had a question regarding community water systems, and after trying to find the right person to contact with in the Idaho Department of Water Resources, I discovered that FTR knew the answer, and was actually drafting a document to help others with the same question. I met with the organization to get a better understanding of what else they do.

My initial expectation was that everything would be directly related to the Teton River (hence the name). As I listened in during my meeting, I discovered that is mostly true, but the responsibilities of the organization extends far past the River itself.

Some of the main points are stream and fishery restorations, drinking water protection and work related to flood plains and ways.

Some of the areas I wasn’t expecting to see such great effort was related to water rights, and the FTR’s ability to work with other similar organizations to optimize donations made to these organizations collectively. For example, I learned that FTR works closely with the Teton Regional Land Trust. In circumstances where land is donated or otherwise, they are able to work together to make sure that any water rights pertinent to that property are used to the best possible advantage of our streams and waterways. They also work with individual water rights owners for the benefit of both the owner and the organization. There are circumstances where water rights owners want to retain the water right, but need to put the right to good use, which is where FTR can help to ensure that the right is not only being used, but again benefiting our waterways.

Another great resource this organization offers is education. I mentioned above that they were able to help me with something that I was otherwise having difficulty trying to understand. FTR can be used as an excellent resource as a “one stop shop” for anything related to streams, rivers, floodplains, or otherwise. The nice thing is that they always seem to know who to contact and in what department. Nobody has a good understanding of all of these departments such as FEMA, IDWR, DEQ, and more, like they do.

I was of course also interested in how they are funded. They are funded by local donations and organizations, federal and state grants, as well as private, public, and family based foundations.

Friends of the Teton River has so much more to offer than just the above points, and we all benefit from their services in one way or another. I would urge all of you to visit their website at tetonwater.org, and of course make a donation!