Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver has lifted a curtailment order that could have shut off water to many irrigators in eastern and south-central Idaho.

The curtailment order was issued May 30 as part of the Surface Water Coalition’s delivery call after the department projected a water supply shortage of 74,100 acre-feet to senior water right holder Twin Falls Canal Co.

That shortfall was based on the department’s April forecast. The July forecast reduced that projected shortfall to 6,800 acre-feet.

The curtailment order originally impacted about 64,000 junior water rights in six groundwater districts that were not operating under an approved mitigation plan. It applied to water rights junior to March 31, 1954, and threatened about 500,000 acres.

Two groundwater districts got on board with a mitigation plan in early June, and the remaining four worked out a temporary compromise with senior water right holders for 2024 in mid-June.

“Obviously, we’re glad to see it reversed,” said Keith Esplin, executive director of the Eastern Idaho Water Rights Coalition and Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Recharge.

But groundwater users are concerned. This is the second straight year in which the department forecast a shortfall in the spring, and then it vanished, he said.

“But it doesn’t go away,” he said.

Groundwater districts spent money to line up water supplies or committed to water purchases for senior water right holders. And there’s been some unsubstantiated reports that some farmers turned off water under threat of a $300 an acre fine, causing crop damage, he said.

Anheuser-Busch in Idaho Falls would have had to shut down its plant or face a $53,000 fine. But it would have lost $5 million to $7 million in lost product, he said.

“It highlights how important it is to get a new agreement in place so we have protection against curtailment,” he said.

He thinks there’s going to be a legislative push to prevent in-season curtailment orders.

The answer is figuring out any projected shortfalls before the season starts,” he said.

“There has to be a plan in place before the season starts. You can’t just get to the middle of the season and pull out the rug,” he said.