Idaho Code
Idaho Code

Idaho Code § 18-4302 (2026)

Wasting water used for irrigation. 

✓ current as of May 2026
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Wasting water used for irrigation. 

Any person or persons, who shall wilfully or wantonly waste any of the waters of any stream, the waters of which are used for irrigation, to the detriment of any claimant of such water for irrigation purposes, by diverting the same for an unnecessary use or purpose, or by allowing such water to waste by running into depressions or dry channels so that the same cannot be used for irrigation, nor reach the original channel of the stream from which it has been diverted, are guilty of a misdemeanor.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1957–2022 · leading case: Chester v. Wild Idaho Adventures RV Park, LLC, 519 P.3d 1152 (Idaho 2022).
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Chester v. Wild Idaho Adventures RV Park, LLC, 519 P.3d 1152 (Idaho 2022). · cites it 2× “§§ 42- 1201 to -1204; I.C. § 18-4302. However, a ditch user’s discretion in performing ditch maintenance is not unfettered, as the statute’s plain language limits those maintenance rights to “reasonable exercise.”
McKay v. Boise Proj. Bd. of Control, 111 P.3d 148 (Idaho 2005). · cites it 4× “Idaho Code § 18-4302 provides: “any person or persons who shall willfully and wantonly waste any of the waters of any stream, the waters of which are used for irrigation, to the detriment of any claimant of the water for irrigation purposes .”
Mountain Home Irrigation Dist. v. Duffy, 319 P.2d 965 (Idaho 1957). “§ 18-4302 I.C. Under this section and the constitutional policy cited, it is the duty of a prior appropriator to allow the water, which he has the right to use, to flow down the channel for the benefit of junior appropriators at times when he has no immediate need for the use…”
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