10:53 AM MST on Sunday, February 6, 2005

Associated Press

BOISE -- Southern Idaho water users are again negotiating water rights.

KTVB

Canal companies have been calling in their senior water rights, causing a conflict with other water users in the Snake River Plain Aquifer.

But the Speaker of the House Bruce Newcomb worries that the parties won't find a middle ground.

Seven area canal companies and irrigation districts want their senior water rights -- even if it forces thousands of other water users to shut off their pumps.

Newcomb says that could dry up 150-thousand acres of farmland.

The move made in January stalled negotiations between groundwater users and spring water users.

The two sides have been trying to develop a permanent plan to restore spring flows from underground water sourced from King Hill northeast to Ashton.

Five years of drought have left the aquifer parched.

Senator Chuck Coiner has led mitigation efforts between surface users and groundwater pumpers for the past three years.

He says effects from drought should be spread among all groundwater users to lessen the burden for everyone.