Commencement order starts Idaho water right adjudications for the Spokane Rathdrum Praire Aquifer

On November 12th, 2008 Idaho Disctrict Court Judge John M. Melanson ordered commencement of the Coeur D’Alene-Spokane River Basin General Adjudication. Click here to access the commencement order and other related water right adjudication documents.

As stated on the Idaho Department of Water Resources web site, “The 2006 Legislature authorized IDWR to proceed with planning and designing the administrative mechanisms for commencing the first of three water right adjudications in Northern Idaho beginning with the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane River drainages. 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.”