Idaho Code

Idaho Code § 42-1102 (2026)

Owners of land — Right to right-of-way.

✓ current as of May 2026

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Owners of land — Right to right-of-way.

(1) Owners or claimants to land that do not have sufficient length of frontage on a stream to afford the requisite fall for a ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or other conduit on their own premises for the proper irrigation or drainage thereof, or where the land proposed to be irrigated is back from the banks of such stream, and convenient facilities otherwise for the watering of said lands cannot be had, such owners or claimants are entitled to a right-of-way through the lands of others for a ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit to convey water to the place of use for the purposes of irrigation or to provide drainage of irrigated land.

(2) The right-of-way for a ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or other conduit shall include but is not limited to the reasonable exercise of the following rights:

(a) The right to enter the land across which the right-of-way extends for the purposes of accessing, inspecting, operating, cleaning, maintaining, and repairing the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, embankments, and irrigation structures and to occupy such width of the land along the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, and embankments as is necessary to properly perform such work with personnel and with such equipment as is commonly used or is reasonably adapted to that work.

(b) The right to remove from the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, embankments, and irrigation structures the debris, soil, vegetation, and other material the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit owner or operator reasonably deems necessary to properly access, inspect, operate, clean, maintain, and repair them. The owner or operator has the right and discretion to transport the material from the right-of-way, to utilize the material for reconstruction, repair, or maintenance of the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, embankments, irrigation structures, and related roads and access areas, and to deposit and leave the material within the right-of-way, provided that the deposits occupy no greater width of land along the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, and embankments than is reasonably necessary.

(c) The right to occupy the right-of-way during any season of the year to perform the work of operating, cleaning, maintaining, and repairing the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, conduit, embankments, and irrigation structures without prior notice to the owner or occupant of the land across which the right-of-way extends.

(d) The owner or operator of the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit is not obligated to maintain or control the right-of-way or vegetation for the benefit of the owners or claimants of lands of others.

(3) Any servient estate owner shall be deemed to have notice that the owner of the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit has the right-of-way and all incidental rights confirmed or granted by this section if:

(a) The servient estate owner has actual or constructive knowledge of the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit; or

(b) The ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit or any feature thereof is visible or reasonably discoverable.

(4) Rights-of-way provided by this section are essential for the operations of the ditches, canals, laterals, drains, and conduits. No person or entity shall cause or permit any encroachments onto the right-of-way, including public or private roads, utilities, fences, gates, pipelines, structures, landscaping, trees, vegetation, or other construction or placement of objects, without the written permission of the owner or operator of the right-of-way in order to ensure that any such encroachments will not unreasonably or materially interfere with the use and enjoyment of the right-of-way. Such written permission shall not be unreasonably withheld.

(5) Encroachments of any kind placed in such right-of-way without express written permission of the owner or operator of the right-of-way shall be removed at the expense of the person or entity causing or permitting such encroachment, upon the request of the owner or operator of the right-of-way, in the event that any such encroachments unreasonably or materially interfere with the use and enjoyment of the right-of-way.

(a) The person or entity that caused or permitted the encroachment shall perform such removal, modification, repair, or restoration within a reasonable time after request from the owner or operator of the easement or right-of-way or immediately upon such request in the event of reduced delivery or drainage of water, property damage, safety risk, or other emergency. What constitutes a reasonable time to respond to the request depends on the circumstances affecting the use, operation, maintenance, and repair of the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit and associated easement or right-of-way.

(b) If the person or entity that caused or permitted the encroachment fails to timely perform the requested actions, or in the event of reduced delivery or drainage of water, property damage, safety risk, or other emergency, the owner or operator of the easement or right-of-way may proceed to perform such actions at the expense of the person or entity causing or permitting the encroachment, as long as no work is performed on any municipal or public utility line.

(6) Any person or entity that causes or permits an encroachment shall be responsible for its use, operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement to prevent unreasonable or material interference with the ditch, canal, lateral, drain, or conduit and the associated easement or right-of-way and shall be liable for all damages that may accrue therefrom.

(7) Nothing in this section shall in any way affect the exercise of the right of eminent domain for the public purposes set forth in section 7-701, Idaho Code.

(8) This section shall apply to ditches, canals, laterals, drains, conduits, and embankments existing on the effective date of this act, as well as to ditches, canals, laterals, drains, conduits, and embankments constructed or existing after such effective date.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 17 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1975–2023 · leading case: Hood V. Poorman, 519 P.3d 769 (Idaho 2022).

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Hood V. Poorman, 519 P.3d 769 (Idaho 2022). · cites it 107× “This case concerns a district court’s decision defining the scope of a ditch right-of-way under Idaho Code section 42-1102 and enjoining the ditch users from certain activities within the right-of-way.”

Chester v. Wild Idaho Adventures RV Park, LLC, 519 P.3d 1152 (Idaho 2022). · cites it 62× “are entitled to temporarily place debris and material within the easement incidental to maintaining the ditches as permitted by I.C. § 42-1102. Any such debris or material shall be removed after completion of maintenance within a reasonable time.”

Pioneer Irrigation Dist. v. City of Caldwell, 288 P.3d 810 (Idaho 2012). · cites it 18× “The district court held that, pursuant to I.C. §§ 42-1102 and 1209, Pioneer enjoys exclusive rights in its primary easements and rights-of-way.”

Morgan v. New Sweden Irrigation Dist., 322 P.3d 980 (Idaho 2014). · cites it 24× “The district court held that there was no genuine dispute that New Sweden’s easement was sixteen feet wide because Morgan failed to offer contradictory evidence regarding the space needed to operate equipment.”

Johnson v. High. 101 Investments, LLC, 319 P.3d 485 (Idaho 2014). · cites it 18× “Although Nampa & Meridian had been granted a forty- foot easement by Washington Federal’s predecessor in interest, Nampa & Meridian relied entirely on its easement rights under I.C. § 42-1102. 3 This statute gives irrigation companies the right to: [E]nter the land across which…”

Morgan v. New Sweden Irrigation Dist., 368 P.3d 990 (Idaho 2016). · cites it 4× “” I.C. § 42-1102. On the morning of June 25, 2009, New Sweden mowed the canal banks along the Morgan Property.”

Bratton v. Scott, 248 P.3d 1265 (Idaho 2011). · cites it 6× “However, the purported knowledge of a jury is no substitute for competent evidence establishing a claim for damages.”

Canyon View Irrigation Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co., 619 P.2d 122 (Idaho 1980). · cites it 4× “I.C. §§ 42-1102 and -1106. See White v. Marty, 97 Idaho 85 , 540 P.”

Zingiber Inv., LLC v. Hagerman High. Dist., 249 P.3d 868 (Idaho 2011). · cites it 4× “However, Zingiber was not the owner of that portion of the ditch, but was simply the owner of the servient estate. Therefore, Zingiber does not have independent rights in the ditch under I.”

Bedke v. Pickett Ranch & Sheep Co., 137 P.3d 423 (Idaho 2006). · cites it 2× “On August 1, 2002, Bruce and Jared Bedke filed this lawsuit seeking damages for breach of the Pooling Agreement, damages for violating Idaho Code § 42-1102 , and a declaration that they have an easement across Pickett Ranch’s property for the pipeline.”

Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co. v. Peiper, 982 P.2d 917 (Idaho 1999). “The SRBA court also held that it was possible for the Peipers to obtain ASCC water by securing an easement for a replacement ditch under Sections 42-1102 and 42-1106 of the Idaho Code.”

White v. Marty, 540 P.2d 270 (Idaho 1975). · cites it 2× “I.C. § 42-1102 gives to landowners a right to an easement or right of way across the lands of others to supply irrigation water.”

Show all 17 citing cases →

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(1) — 3 cases

Hood V. Poorman, 519 P.3d 769 (Idaho 2022). “This case concerns a district court’s decision defining the scope of a ditch right-of-way under Idaho Code section 42-1102 and enjoining the ditch users from certain activities within the right-of-way.”

Chester v. Wild Idaho Adventures RV Park, LLC, 519 P.3d 1152 (Idaho 2022). “are entitled to temporarily place debris and material within the easement incidental to maintaining the ditches as permitted by I.C. § 42-1102. Any such debris or material shall be removed after completion of maintenance within a reasonable time.”

Christianson v. United States (D. Idaho 2023).

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(2) — 2 cases

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(2)(a) — 2 cases

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(2)(c) — 1 case

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(3) — 2 cases

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(4) — 1 case

Christianson v. United States (D. Idaho 2023).

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(5) — 2 cases

— Idaho Code § 42-1102(6) — 1 case

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.