Idaho Supreme Court Holds That Federal Reclamation Project Water Users Have Equitable Title to Reclamation Project Water

In a decision written by the Chief Justice, the Idaho Supreme Court held that the water (property) rights of water users are superior to any rights of the United States to water in a federal Reclamation Project. The Idaho Supreme Court flatly rejected the 2005 decision issued by Judge Allegra of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Klamath v. United States, which held that farmers who had put water from the Klamath Reclamation Project to beneficial use for almost a century had no constitutionally protected property right in the water, but only a contract right that the Klamath Court later held was not enforceable either.

The Idaho Supreme Court, applying Supreme Court precedent and construing State and federal Reclamation law, held:

[I]t is clear that the entity that applies the water to beneficial use has a right that is more than a contractual right. . . . . [T]itle to the use of the water is held by the consumers or users of the water.

United States v. Pioneer Irrigation District, 2007 WL 703701 (Idaho).

Click here for a copy of the decision.

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