What to File?

Application For Permit or a Notice of Claim to a Water Right

What to file Flowchart

Are you in an area where an active adjudication is taking place? (see map (opens in a new tab) )

A Notice of Claim should be filed for all existing water rights including unrecorded water rights (established through historic use by the diversion and application of water to a beneficial use), previously decreed or licensed rights, or water right permits if proof of beneficial use was filed on or before the commencement of the Adjudication.

Water users of a small domestic and/or stockwater (D&S) right, as defined by Idaho Code §§ 42-111 and 42-1401A, may elect to file a Notice of Claim now or defer (postpone) the filing until a later time in this proceeding.

An Application for Permit should be filed if :

  • your water use has not been previously recorded as a water right permit*, license or decree, and
  • your use of ground water (well) began after March 25, 1963, and does not qualify for the exemption below, or
  • your use of surface water began after May 20, 1971 (except for watering stock directly from streams).

Exemption : If your use of ground water meets the following criteria, an Application for Permit is not required. However, you can choose to file a Notice of Claim to a Water Right or an Application for Permit :

  • Single family residence with up to a half an acre of lawn and/or garden irrigation
  • Stockwater use of less than 13,000 gallons per day
  • Any combination of stockwater and single family or multiple-family use with single ownership that does not exceed 13,000 gallons per day
  • Any other use of ground water where the diversion rate does not exceed 0.04 cfs (18 gallons per minute) and total diversion volume of 2,500 gallons per day.

*A permit to appropriate water to establish a water right is different than the permit obtained to drill a well.