20210714FLS to Staff 1.pdf

Rates & Regulatory Affairs
FLS-W-21-01
Falls Water Company Application for Approval of Three Capital Projects
Data Request Response

Request No.: FLS-W-21-01 IPUC DR 1

REQUEST NO. 1: On page 7 of the Application, finalization of a water right purchase is
mentioned. Please provide details of the water right purchase including cost, size, and
estimated completion date.
Response:
In November 2019, Falls Water was made aware of water rights that possibly could be
purchased and transferred to its service area. The initial amount of water rights sought
was up to 256-acre feet. The cost for the 256-acre feet of water rights was estimated to
be $451,000 plus legal fees, engineering fees, and closing fees.
In March 2020, an agreement was signed to start the official process to perform the
modeling and other processes to transfer the water rights. The modeling showed, that
between the two water rights being sold, the maximum water rights volume would be
208-acre feet. This is the volume of the transfer application submitted to IDWR. During
the advertising portion of the transfer process, the Surface Water Coalition in the Twin
Falls area protested the transfer. Once the protest was resolved to everyone’s
satisfaction, IDWR began its review of the application and any adjustments to the
transfer were resolved to IDWR’s satisfaction. Once the transfer was approved, the
purchase was concluded. The purchase was finalized on May 28, 2021, in the amount
of $387,950.25.