IDWR sets meetings on water rights adjudication

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Department of Water Resources is hosting a series of public meetings this month to discuss water rights adjudication in northern Idaho.

The department will hold the following meetings:

- Monday, Sept. 9 — 11 a.m. Clark Fork Library; 6 p.m. Best Western Edgewater Resort in Sandpoint

- Tuesday, Sept. 10 — 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Bonners Ferry Gateway Visitors Center

- Wednesday, Sept. 11 — 1 p.m. Inn at Priest Lake; 6 p.m. Priest River Senior Center

There will be presentations regarding the history and plans for water rights adjudication in North Idaho. The purpose of a water right adjudication is to catalog and confirm through the court all water rights and to which property those water rights belong, binding all property owners and parties to the court decree of those water rights.

The process is meant to avert hostile litigation.

Water rights in Idaho operate on the concept of first in time, first in right.

Senator Jim Woodward, R-Sandpoint, is slated to brief the Idaho Lakes Commission on water right adjudication when it meets on Friday, Oct 4, according to the commission’s Molly McCahon. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Columbia Bank Building in Sandpoint.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.