Idaho Code
Idaho Code § 42-217 (2026)
Proof of application to beneficial use.
✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
IClegislature.idaho.gov
Justiaon Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
Proof of application to beneficial use.
(1) On or before the date set for the beneficial use of waters appropriated under the provisions of this chapter, or the date set for submission of an incremental statement of completion showing proof of beneficial use, the permit holder shall submit a statement on a form furnished by the department of water resources that the permit holder has used such water for the beneficial purpose allowed by the permit. The statement shall include:
(a) The name and post office address of the permit holder;
(b) The permit number;
(c) A description of the extent of the use;
(d) In the case of a municipal provider, a description of the current service area;
(e) The source of the water used; and
(f) Such other information as shall be required by the department’s form.
(2) Such written statement shall include fees as provided in subsection K. of section 42-221, Idaho Code, or a field examination report prepared by a certified water right examiner. For permits held by a municipal provider for reasonably anticipated future needs, such statements shall be provided in accordance with section 42-204(4), Idaho Code.
(3) Upon receipt of such written statement and the fee as required in section 42-221, Idaho Code, the department shall examine, or cause to be examined:
(a) The place where such water is diverted and used and, if the use is for irrigation, the area and location of the land irrigated and the nature of all the improvements which have been made as a direct result of such use.
(b) The capacities of the ditches or canals or other means by which such water is conducted to such place of use and the quantity of water that has been beneficially applied for irrigation or other purposes.
(4) The department or the person making such examination under the direction of the department shall prepare and file a report of the investigation: provided, that whenever an irrigation project is developed in the name of an association, company, corporation, irrigation district or the United States as provided in section 42-219, Idaho Code, proof of beneficial use shall be made by the permit holder. The lands upon which the water has been used need not be described by legal subdivisions, but may be described as provided in section 42-219, Idaho Code, and it shall only be necessary to show in such cases that the quantity of water beneficially applied for irrigation has been applied within the limits of the project.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2007–2016 · leading case: United States v. Pioneer Irrigation Dist., 157 P.3d 600 (Idaho 2007).
United States v. Pioneer Irrigation Dist., 157 P.3d 600 (Idaho 2007). “I.C. §§ 42-217, 42-219. Under either the constitutional or statutory method of appropriation, the appropriator must apply the water to a beneficial use in order to have a valid water right in Idaho.”
Idaho Ground Water Appropriators v. Dept of Water Resources (42775) & City of Pocatello v. Rangen, Inc. (42836), 369 P.3d 897 (Idaho 2016). “When following the constitutional method, one “must depend upon actual appropriation, that is to say, actual diversion and application to beneficial vise.” Under the statutory method of appropriation, the appropriation is not complete and a license will not issue until there is…”
Idaho Power Co. v. Idaho Dep't of Water Resources, 255 P.3d 1152 (Idaho 2011). “I.C. § 42-217. If, based on the proof submitted by the applicant and the field examination, the Department “is satisfied that the law has been fully complied with and that the water is being used at the place claimed and for the purpose for which it was originally intended, the…”
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.