IWUA finds high interest in rural-urban summit

By Ag Weekly
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 4:59 PM CDT

BOISE, Idaho - A statewide summit on rural and urban water delivery challenges being organized by Idaho’s largest water user group has so captured the attention of the state’s most powerful water, legal, industry, municipal and government leaders that organizers now are concerned about having room for all who want to attend.

The Rural-Urban Irrigation Encroachment Issues Summit, set for Oct. 8 at the Holiday Inn in Boise, deals with the impacts of growing urbanization of lands surrounding irrigation water-delivery systems including encroachment and urban wastewater runoff. The Summit has drawn enormous interest and is now being sponsored or co-hosted by more than a dozen organizations, companies, associations, and federal agencies.

IWUA is seeing more and more rural-urban interface conflict issues such as those faced by irrigation entities, according to a press release from the organization. The rural vs. urban clashes are an increasing difficulty for irrigation entities whose systems are located near or in growing urban areas. As these urban areas develop, issues of private property encroachment and dumping of urban storm water runoff into canals and drains are arising with increasing frequency across the southern half of the state.

“The issues we will deal with at the Summit have drawn an enormous amount of interest across an entire spectrum of government and private sector groups,” said Norm Semanko, IWUA executive director. “We knew the issues were on a lot of minds, but it’s crystal clear that the rural-urban conflict has touched a very sensitive nerve with a wide variety of often competing interests, all of whom are looking for a way to find answers and craft workable solutions.”

Three members of the state’s congressional delegation are now among the co-hosts for the Summit. They are Senator Mike Crapo and Representatives Bill Sali and Mike Simpson. Crapo is also the keynote speaker at the Summit. Ada County is also a co-host of the event.

Three Idaho irrigation companies from Caldwell, Boise and Twin Falls; three law firms from across southern Idaho; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the Farm Bureau Federation are co-sponsors of the Summit.

The Association of Idaho Cities, Idaho Association of Counties, Idaho Association of Highway Districts, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are also major partners with IWUA in the event.

The summit is being organized based on statewide concerns about serious financial and potential civil liability issues for Idaho irrigation entities due to encroachment and dumping of storm water runoff into canals and drains. It is now being viewed as the first step in laying the groundwork for cooperative solutions between Idaho irrigation entities and municipal and governmental entities, Semanko said.

“IWUA strongly believes the organizations attending the summit have a mutual interest in discussing these topics, educating one another on our perspectives, and identifying potential solutions and other paths forward,” he said. “It is crucial that we try to gain a mutual understanding of the problems and challenges that arise when irrigation entities and local governments find themselves in conflict and to jointly identify some solutions and determine how best to work together to implement them in an environment of mutual respect between local government and irrigation interests.”

The IWUA summit comes in response to a request from Pioneer Irrigation District in Canyon County. Pioneer has been wrestling for more than a year by what it claims is serious problems of urban waste water runoff and encroachment into Pioneer property by the city of Caldwell. Pioneer is a co-sponsor of the Summit, as is Settlers Irrigation District of Ada County, which is involved in a lawsuit with the Ada County Highway District over similar issues. The Twin Falls Canal Company, whose canals snake throughout the city of Twin Fall’s municipal area, is also a co-sponsor.

For more information on the summit, contact the Idaho Water Users Association at (208) 344-6690.

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