Idaho Gains High Praise for it’s Water Courts

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia praised Idaho's completion of a nearly 30-year process negotiating water rights as a successful exercise in state rights and local control.

Scalia was the keynote speaker at Monday's event in Boise marking the end of the largest ever adjudication review that covers nearly 85 percent of the Gem State. Since 1987, water law attorneys have completed more than 150,000 water rights claims.

This has allowed thousands of farmers, dairies and fish processors to have a comprehensive record of state, federal and tribal water rights. Scalia says Idaho is the first state to finish its adjudication process. States like Colorado and Arizona are still working through their review even though they started earlier.