Idaho Fifth District Judge Eric Wildman rescheduled a planned April 15 hearing on a petition to commence the Kootenai River Basin Adjudication.

The hearing is now scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Pacific / 2:30 p.m. Mountain July 15 at the state water adjudications court, 253 3rd Ave. N., Twin Falls, and remotely via Zoom.

The U.S. and the state filed a joint motion requesting a 90-day extension to file pre-hearing statements, briefs or memoranda, according to Wildman’s order granting the joint motion. The court granted the motion “on the basis it is unopposed,” he wrote.

If the court grants the petition to commence the Kootenai basin adjudication, the Idaho Department of Water Resources will act as the court’s technical expert, Craig Saxton, water allocation bureau chief, told Capital Press.

An adjudication is a legal process that inventories and confirms water rights lawfully established by water users in various basins in the state, according to an IDWR news release. Department staff as part of the process investigate and verify all surface and groundwater uses claimed by users.

In the water adjudications court, the department eventually files a director’s report that details the department’s recommendations regarding the elements of each water right. The court ultimately issues a decree confirming the elements of those water rights.

The legislature in 2024 authorized startup of the Kootenai adjudication, which would be the state’s fifth river basin adjudication. The legislation took effect July 1.

The state Supreme Court in a November provisional order selected Wildman, who presides over the water adjudications court, to adjudicate water rights in the Kootenai basin. The attorney general’s office on Jan. 3 petitioned the water adjudications court to commence the adjudication, according to IDWR, and the court scheduled the original hearing.

A Kootenai basin adjudication likely would involve around 3,000 claims and cost about $3.25 million over five years, plus funding for negotiating federal claims, according to the 2024 legislation’s purpose statement. Claim filing fees are expected to fund 5-10% of the adjudication’s cost.