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<br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Chapter 2 <br />WATER BANK EXPERIENCE IN TIlE WEST <br /> <br />This chapter examines the experience to date with the use of formal water banks <br />in the West. We begin with the longest established water bank, the one in the Upper <br />Snake Basin of Idaho, and its sister banks in that state. Then we turn to the recent <br />experience with the state-level water bank in California that has been used to deal with <br />drought-related water shortages in 1991, 1992, and 1994. Next we look at the newly- <br />formed Texas Water Bank and the proposed Lower Colorado River Interstate Bank. <br />Finally we look at bank-like activities in Kansas and at water district level banks in <br />Colorado and Washington. <br /> <br />2.1 WATER BANKS IN IDAHO <br /> <br />Idaho has a statewide water supply bank administered by the Idaho Water <br />Resource Board (Board) through the Idaho Department of Water Resources, and three <br />storage rental pools managed by local committees. In addition, rules were adopted in <br />1994 governing the operation of a Tnbal Water Supply Bank for the Shoshone-Bannock <br />tnbes. <br /> <br />The state's formal banking program dates back to 1979 when Idaho Legislators, <br />following the recommendation of the Board, enacted a statutory scheme calling for the <br />creation of a ''water supply bank." The underlying policy, announced by the Board a few <br />years earlier, called for the establishment of a water supply bank "for the purpose of <br />acquiring water rights or water entitlements from willing sellers for reallocation by sale or <br />lease to other new or existing uses."1 A statewide banking program was subsequently . <br />established to "obtain the highest duty for beneficial use from water, provide a source of <br />adequate water supplies to benefit new and supplemental Water uses, and provide a <br /> <br />~ Leland L. Mink, "Water Banking in Idaho,. paper presented at RiDarian Manal!ement: Common <br />Threads and Shared Interests. Feb. 4-6, 1993, and USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report RM-226 <br />(1993). <br />