Baker v. Ore-Ida Foods, Inc.

SHEPARD, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment for plaintiffs enjoining defendants from operating their irrigation wells. Defendants’ wells pumped from a ground water aquifer underlying both plaintiffs’ and defendants’ land. This Court must for the first time, interpret our Ground Water Act (I.C. § 42-226 et seq.) as it relates to withdrawals of water from an underground aquifer in excess of the annual recharge rate. We are also called upon to construe our Ground Water Act’s policies of promoting “full economic development” of ground water resources and maintaining “reasonable pumping…