BOISE -The board that governs Idaho's water is proposing dramatic changes to how the state's most precious resource is managed, stored and funded amid growing concern about climate change.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources Board wants to update the state water plan for the first time since 1996 and take a hands-on management approach unparalleled in the past four decades. The board's decisions will likely affect all Idahoans, especially irrigators and municipalities.

The policy shift is revolutionary, said Hal Anderson, a senior administrator with the board. "It was the late '60s the last time the water board was this assertive or aggressive," Anderson said.

In a work session late last week, the board discussed long-term strategies that could include building additional reservoirs or expanding existing facilities, recharging the aquifer and revamping management techniques to accommodate growth. The board could also ask the Legislature next session to fund projects similar to a current aquifer-recharge plan.

"We're basically at the limit of our functioning water-management plans," Anderson said. "And we're in a veritable crisis mode on the Eastern Snake Aquifer," where Magic Valley gets much of its water.

The board is concerned climate change, especially a decade of nearly consecutive drought years, is affecting a system designed for cooler temperatures and fewer water users.

Warmer spring weather in recent years has caused earlier spring runoff and changed stream-flow patterns, making it harder to capture and deliver water.

In the last two decades, the department has also struggled to manage groundwater and surface water as a single resource, a process called conjunctive management.

IDWR's announcement signals a general shift in the state's water role. This spring, Gov. Butch Otter hosted a water summit where he told water users to find solutions to Idaho's water crisis or he'd do it for them. Two sessions ago, the Legislature ordered the water board to develop a plan for managing the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. And in January, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of conjunctive management in a landmark case.

"The tone the governor set at the summit was that we've got to roll up our sleeves because the clock is ticking," said Jon Hanian, a spokesman for Otter. "If we all don't take an aggressive, hands-on approach this (water crisis) will get out of hand."

Times-News staff writer Matt Christensen covers the environment. He welcomes comments at matt.christensen@lee.net.