Transcript

Bridges/Keys: Idaho has only 400 miles of instream water rights approved

Marti Bridges: My question is for Commissioner Keys. The State of Idaho has only 400 miles of instream water rights approved. That's less than half a percent of the over 100,000 miles of streams. In light of the shortcomings of the minimum streamflow statutes throughout most of the West -- Wyoming, Idaho and other states where there are reclamation projects -- I was wondering what the Bureau was thinking in terms of releasing the space-holder contracts throughout its projects that are going to be expiring in the next few years and utilizing those storage flows to meet instream flow purposes, such as water quality, endangered species, recreation, and also to meet many of the tribal trust responsibilities that the Bureau has?

John Keys: The first thing is space-holder contracts don't run out. Space-holder contracts are something that people have bought and paid for. They are a property right just like your house. It is not something that runs out. Now there are some water service contracts that run out and have to be re-negotiated -- we are actually in the process of re-negotiating [some] now in the Boise basin. To say that those space-holder contracts run out is not proper. Can we use some of those waters that are tied up in the water service contracts? The answer is yes. Every time we renew a contract, a water service contract, we review the use, to see that the water is being beneficially used and whether they still need it all. And if there is some left over, of course, that's in the system for us to work with. And certainly working with the State, we will be willing to do that. But Reclamation does not hold instream water rights. Like the other states we have talked about, they are held by the State. They are the ones that put those things together. Certainly some of our water could be part of that mix if that is what the State wanted or if that is what the water user groups wanted.

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