ESPA study suggests water credit trading program

A research study has found junior groundwater users on Idaho’s Eastern Snake Plain could reduce the financial sting of a settlement agreement by strategically idling marginal land and selling credits to other groundwater users. WestWater Research assigned an intern, Ryan Shepler, to evaluate the most effective ways for Idaho Ground Water Appropriators, Inc., groundwater districts to meet a 240,000 acre-foot annual reduction in aquifer withdrawals mandated under the terms of a 2015 settlement with the Surface Water Coalition.The reduction averages 12 percent per user, with the amount varying based on priority dates of groundwater rights.Shepler explained a credit program would pay willing growers scheduled to plant low-value crops, such as wheat, on marginal ground to fallow those acres. Resulting irrigation credits could then be sold to others within the groundwater district in need of water to finish off high-value crops on more productive land.