Law & Justice

Idaho Family Suing State Over 2025 Water Shutdown That Dried 1,000‑acre Farm

By TOI World Desk

An Idaho family that has farmed 1,000 acres near the Snake River for three generations has filed a lawsuit against the state after an emergency water order forced them to shut off their irrigation pumps, drying their fields and destroying crops. Jerry Bingham and his family have grown wheat, alfalfa, and potatoes near Blackfoot since 1950. They filed the suit in the Seventh Judicial District Court of Idaho in Bingham County, challenging an order from the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) that halted groundwater pumping across large areas of the Eastern Snake River Plain. The Binghams are represented by the nonprofit public‑interest law group Pacific Legal Foundation, which argues that state regulators violated Idaho’s long‑standing water priority laws and effectively took private property rights without payment.

The dispute began with an administrative order from IDWR Director Matthew Weaver. Under the order, groundwater users in the Eastern Snake River Basin with water rights dated after 1900 had to stop pumping unless they were part of an approved mitigation district or had their own mitigation plan. The state agency issued the shutdown because water levels in the underground aquifer were falling and to meet demands from senior surface‑water users, including canal companies farther downstream. The Binghams hold a 1950 water right, older than many groundwater users but newer than 19th‑century surface‑water claims. Idaho follows a "first in time, first in right" system for water, so regulators are supposed to limit junior rights in reverse order of priority, not issue broad bans based solely on historical dates. Court documents filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation say the state’s blanket 1900 cutoff ignored rights dated between older and newer claims, unfairly grouping 1950 holders like the Binghams with more recent rights.

After the state ordered the irrigation pumps to be turned off, soil across the Binghams’ 1,000 acres dried during the height of the growing season. Wheat and alfalfa crops dried up in the heat, and the family said they could no longer plant crops, threatening the long‑standing family business. Since the first shutdown order, regulators have allowed the Binghams to turn on their irrigation pumps only once, during a short period in April 2026. The family submitted five mitigation plans to IDWR, all of which were rejected.

In their petition for judicial review and request to pause enforcement, the Binghams argue that Idaho water rights are real property protected by both state and federal constitutions. The lawsuit claims IDWR unlawfully took their property by denying access to their established 1950 water allocation without following required curtailment procedures or paying for financial losses. Pacific Legal Foundation Senior Attorney Damien Schiff said the case raises larger questions about government power and the future of farming.

The lawsuit is part of a broader conflict between groundwater users and surface‑water users across Southern Idaho. The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer covers nearly 10,000 square miles and supplies both deep farm wells and the Snake River. Years of drought, changing rainfall patterns, and more efficient irrigation methods have reduced recharge. Downstream canal operators with 19th‑century rights have called for state intervention. In September 2025, a state district judge approved a settlement in a related water dispute that required some junior groundwater users to stop irrigation for the rest of that season. Individual family farms that did not join large groundwater districts were left without administrative options when state shutdown orders took effect. The Binghams are asking the court to stop enforcement of the state’s pumping ban on their property and restore a clear, legal system for deciding water rights across Idaho. The case remains pending in the Seventh Judicial District Court.