BOISE n Water brought him here, and with a water deal in hand, he leaves.

Retiring House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, closed out his final legislative session on that note. State officials and Idaho Power representatives signed an agreement on aquifer recharge just shortly before the Legislature adjourned for 2006 on Tuesday.

“It’s certainly not exactly what I would have conceived,” Newcomb said.

Yet, the arrangement allows the state to use 2,000 cubic feet per second of Snake River water to replenish the depleted Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer.

Earlier in the session, Newcomb introduced the controversial House bill 800, which subordinated Idaho Power’s water rights above certain guaranteed minimums to aquifer recharge. Power company officials asserted that Newcomb’s solution would force Idaho Power to raise rates. Eventually, the Senate voted down Newcomb’s bill.

In 1984, company and state officials struck the Swan Falls agreement guaranteeing Idaho Power minimum flows at the dam. Excess waters were put in trust with the state for beneficial upstream uses.

Idaho Power officials have said that aquifer recharge was not a designated beneficial use when the agreement was signed and fought Newcomb’s efforts to subordinate power generation to recharge.

Tuesday’s agreement came about after Clive Strong in the Idaho Attorney General’s office discovered two water rights designated for recharge purposes recognized by Idaho Power in the 1984 deal.

“Clive spent two days going through the archives and found two Easter eggs,” Newcomb said.

However, the bill only guarantees the state the right to use those 2,000 cfs for recharge, not all “trust” water in excess of Idaho Power’s established minimum flows. If legislators want to pursue the issue further, they’ll likely have to rely on litigation to do so.

Surface water users opposed House bill 800, saying the legislation meddled with senior water rights. They hold a water right at Milner Dam of about 5,600 cfs that is senior to the recharge right. Therefore, Newcomb said, the state will have to wait until flows are in excess of that right at Milner before they can use the water to replenish the aquifer.

Idaho Power officials seemed satisfied to have the agreement behind them.

“Today’s agreement is important to the state, our customers and our company,” said Idaho Power President and Chief Executive Officer LaMont Keen. “It provides water for recharge, upholds our company’s water rights under state law and preserves the Swan Falls Agreement. At the same time it ensures that the potentially extreme financial burden that House Bill 800 represented to our customers is no longer looming on the horizon.”

Idaho Power officials had estimated that House bill 800 could cost $120 million in lost power generation. During a median water flow year, they speculate the newly signed agreement could total $30 million.

Newcomb, however, doesn’t think that recharge will ever result in a rate increase.

“That’s hogwash,” he said.

(Reporter Michelle Dunlop covers the Legislature and natural resources for The Times-News. She can be reached in Boise at 343-5553 or by e-mail at mdunlop@magicvalley.com.)