Kootenai River Basin Adjudication

The purpose of a Water Right Adjudication is to catalog and confirm through the court all existing Water Rights in a hydrologic basin, and to which property those Water Rights belong, binding all property owners and parties to the court decree of those Water Rights. Idaho Code § 42-1406D, effective July 1, 2024, authorized the Idaho Department of Water Resources to petition the district court to commence an adjudication of the water rights from surface water and ground water sources in the Kootenai River basin. The statute concludes that “ Effective management of the waters of the Kootenai River basin requires that a comprehensive determination of the nature, extent, and priority of the rights of all users of surface and ground water be determined.“ On November 13, 2024, the Idaho Supreme Court issued a Provisional Order appointing the Presiding Judge of the Idaho Water Adjudications in the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho as the Presiding Judge over Kootenai River Basin Adjudication (KRBA). The Presiding Judge of the Idaho Water Adjudications is currently Judge Eric Wildman. A Petition to Commence the KRBA was filed on January 3, 2025. On January 9, 2025, the Idaho Water Adjudications issued an order setting a hearing on the commencement order for April 15, 2025. On March 6, 2026, the Idaho Water Adjudications court issued a Commencement Order for the Kootenai River Basin Adjudication. For more information, visit the IDWR Adjudication page.