The Snake River Basin Adjudication and Looking Up Rights

A river is an old piece of paper trail. Rights were claimed on county records, on court decrees from the early 1900s, on state licenses, and on nothing but a ditch that had been used for sixty years. If a senior user makes a call, the watermaster has to know who is senior. If a town wants to know whether water is available for a new subdivision, someone has to add up what is already spoken for. An adjudication is the way a state clears that up.

What an adjudication is

Idaho Code 42-1401A defines a "general adjudication" as an action for the judicial determination of the extent and priority of the rights of all persons to use water from a water system, conclusive as to the nature of all rights in that system, with stated exceptions, and for the administration of those rights. IDWR's plain version: a water right adjudication is a court proceeding that inventories and catalogs water rights at a snapshot in time, and the court issues a decree confirming the elements of each water right.

The word "all" matters. A general adjudication covers local, state and federal governments, tribes, businesses and private owners together. It also covers both surface water and ground water in the system. The statute defines "water system" to include rivers, streams, lakes, springs and ground waters. Federal law is the reason Idaho does it this way: the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. 666, which the Kootenai statute (42-1406D) cites, lets states join the United States in a basin-wide adjudication of a river system.

The Snake River Basin Adjudication, in dates

Boise State Public Radio reported at the time that it took 27 years, nearly three times the roughly ten years originally expected, and that the latest cost estimate was $94 million against a 1980s estimate of $27 million, with water-user fees meant to cover part of the cost and the general fund covering the rest. The same report said Idaho had defined more than 158,000 water rights. These are news figures from 2014, not statute numbers. Check IDWR's progress reports and the SRBA court record if a story depends on an exact count.

How a right gets decreed

1. Commencement. A district court enters an order commencing the adjudication (42-1407). The director then prepares a plain-language notice of the order for service on water users (42-1408).
2. Notice of claim. The claimant describes the right on a standard form (42-1409): source, quantity, priority date, any record number or court decree, point of diversion, purposes and periods of use, and place of use. For irrigation, the form asks for irrigated acres in each forty-acre subdivision. It also asks for dates of changes or enlargements and conditions on the right. Claimants swear or affirm that the information is accurate.
3. Examination. IDWR examines the water system, the canals and ditches, and the uses being made (42-1410).
4. Director's report. IDWR recommends each right's elements (42-1411). If an old license or decree leaves out an element, 42-1427 has the director recommend it based on the extent of beneficial use as of the date the adjudication began, so long as the claimant is not exceeding a previously determined element.
5. Objections. A claimant who disagrees with a right or a general provision files an objection with the court within the time in the notice (42-1412). The court orders a settlement conference before trial, may request more investigation from the director, and conducts the trial without a jury. The court can appoint special masters to help (42-1422).
6. Decrees and appeal. The court enters partial decrees for individual rights and, when the whole system is done, a final decree. An appeal can be taken to the Idaho Supreme Court (42-1418). Once final, the decree is conclusive as to the nature and extent of all rights in the adjudicated system, with exceptions in 42-1420 such as domestic and stock rights excluded by court order and pending permits and applications.

The consequence of not filing

IDWR's adjudication page is blunt: if an adjudication claim is required for your water use and you do not file before the final decree, the result is a determination that the water right no longer exists. That is why notices were mailed repeatedly and why claim deadlines get so much attention in newspapers and county meetings. The exceptions, again, include small domestic and stock water rights, which may be deferred, though the opportunity to defer is not indefinite.

What is still being adjudicated

IDWR says six general stream adjudications cover almost the entire state. Four are in northern Idaho and one is in the southeast. Their status, from IDWR's pages checked in October 2026:

Dates may have moved by the time you read this. IDWR posts a monthly adjudication progress report. The page you want is the one for your basin, which also holds the claim forms and the schedule of meetings.

Looking up a water right: step by step

IDWR keeps the water right records. Its Water Right and Adjudication Search page is the starting point. The page describes a map-based water right search, an address-based Irrigation Rights Finder, and search tools for new applications, pending transfers and new enlargement claims. IDWR changes its site design from time to time, so the exact menu words may differ from this list. The steps below describe what to look for rather than a button label.

Reading a record

The elements below come from the list in 42-1409 that a notice of claim must contain and that 42-1427 describes as the standard elements of a decreed or licensed right. A decree or report in any basin should show most of them.

Decreed, licensed, permit, claim

• Decreed: a court has determined the elements of the right, in an adjudication or an older court decree.
• Licensed: a permit was issued, the water was put to beneficial use, and the state issued a license after proof. Licensed rights are reviewed in adjudications too.
• Permit: permission to develop a right. Under 42-1420(1)(b) and (c), a pending application for permit or an issued permit is not lost by failure to file a notice of claim, unless the director required a claim.
• Claim: an assertion in an adjudication that has not yet been decreed.

Questions and answers

Why did the SRBA take 27 years?

The 2014 news report said the project took nearly three times its original ten-year estimate. The scale was large: a basin-wide inventory of more than 158,000 rights, with objections, special masters and appeals. The statute shows the steps, and each one takes time.

Is a right in the SRBA decree permanent?

The decree is conclusive as to the nature and extent of rights at that date. A right can still be changed through the transfer process, lost by forfeiture, or administered according to priority. Lesson 03 and lesson 04 cover those.

Where do I find the final decree?

IDWR's SRBA page says the decree is available at srba.idaho.gov. Use the link on IDWR's page.

My well was drilled in 1990. Is it in the record?

If it is a domestic well that stayed within the exemption, it may be deferred or may appear only in well drilling records. Search the well construction records and the water right search separately.

What does a priority date of 1912 mean?

It is the date that sets the right's place in line among rights on the same source. Earlier is senior. It does not, by itself, tell you how much water arrives.

Can I object to someone else's claim?

In an adjudication, a claimant who wants to object to a water right or a general provision in the director's report files an objection with the court within the time in the notice (42-1412). Another party may file a response stating its position. The timing is set by the notice for that basin.

I live in the Palouse or Bear River area. What do I do?

Start with the IDWR page for your basin. For the PRBA and CSRBA, late claims go to the Idaho Water Adjudications court with a motion. For the BRBA and CFPRBA, check the current filing instructions and fee schedule on the IDWR page.

Does the adjudication add a tax on wells?

IDWR's FAQ says the Idaho Legislature would need to pass new legislation to impose a tax on private wells, and that the adjudication does not itself require meters on private domestic wells. It describes funding as filing fees plus the general fund, at an estimated ratio of about one-tenth fees and nine-tenths general fund dollars.

Hard questions

"Why should I pay a claim fee to prove a right I have always used?"

The fee is set in statute and IDWR's fee schedule, and IDWR says the funding mix is about one-tenth fees and nine-tenths general fund. The state's reason for requiring claims is that a decree is conclusive and the system cannot confirm rights it has not been told about. The cost to the claimant is real, and so is the cost of losing the right by not filing.

"Did the SRBA treat tribes and the federal government fairly?"

That is a question with a long record. The statute allows a negotiated agreement between a federal reserved water right claimant and the state to be incorporated into a decree (42-1401). Read the actual agreements and decree provisions in the court record for a specific claimant. This lesson did not review them, and nothing here is a view on any party's claim.

"If a decree is conclusive, why do water fights continue?"

A decree fixes the elements of rights. It does not decide how much water is in the river this year or how aquifer pumping affects a spring. Those questions go to administration, the subject of lessons 02 and 07.

"The record on the website is wrong about my place of use. Who fixes it?"

The path depends on the cause. A clerical error is raised with the IDWR regional office. A disputed element in an active adjudication goes through the objection process. A real change in use goes through the transfer process under 42-222. Ask the regional office which one applies.