Coeur d’Alene residents will begin receiving notices about water right claims from the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) after January 15th. However, property owners who receive their water from the City of Coeur d’Alene will not have to file a claim.
The IDWR is simply continuing its multi-year process of cataloging and confirming all surface and ground water rights in the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane River Basin Adjudication.
A Notice of Claim is NOT required to be filed where the individual property owner and water user is not the owner of the water right; for example, the individual property owner receives all of their water from a city, an irrigation district, water utility district, or a company. A water delivery organization typically files for the water right used by all its customers or patrons. Accordingly, the City of Coeur d’Alene will be filing Notice of Claims on behalf of those served by the city.
“Our water customers do not need to take any action,” said Jim Markley, City of Coeur d’Alene Water Superintendent. “Nonetheless, people on wells should deal with IDWR regarding the process, and customers of other water districts within our city limits should contact their water purveyors (Hayden Lake Irrigation, Hoffman Water, and Dalton Water) with any questions they have.” For further information, please contact the Idaho Department of Water Resources, Northern Region 762-2800 or the City of Coeur d’Alene Water Department at 769-2210.
