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MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
DOCUMENTING LONG-TERM PARTICIPATION IN THE IDAHO WATER RESOURCE BOARD’S
ESPA GROUND WATER TO SURFACE WATER CONVERSION GRANT PROGRAM
This Memorandum of Agreement (Agreement) between the Idaho Water Resource Board (Board) and
the City of Rexburg references the following facts:
A. The Board was created under Article XV, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Idaho, with
the power to construct and operate water projects.
B. The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA) has been losing over 200,000 acre-feet annually from
aquifer storage since the 1950s, resulting in declining groundwater levels, tributary spring
flows, and reach gains.
C. On May 23, 2025, the Board approved Resolution No. 19-2025, modifying the spending plan for the
Water Management Account created pursuant to Idaho Code § 42-1760. The Board’s modified
spending plan included a budget of $20,000,000 for a Groundwater to Surface Conversion Projects
Grant Program (Program).
D. On May 23, 2025, the Board approved Resolution No. 22-2025, adopting Authorization Criteria for
awarding Program grant funding for projects located in the ESPA targeted at converting lands
historically irrigated with groundwater to surface water irrigation.
E. The Authorization Criteria requires Program grant fund recipients to cease pumping the proposed
portion of groundwater related to the project and that delivered conversion water will be used
only on lands with an existing groundwater right tied to the project. The Authorization Criteria
also requires that existing groundwater rights previously used on the conversion project lands
cannot be put in the Water Supply Bank for lease.
F. On September 12, 2025, the Board approved Resolution No. 39-2025 which awarded $302,975 in
Program grant funding to the City of Rexburg for a soft conversion project to install a pump and
pipeline from the Rexburg Canal to Porter Park and integrate into the existing irrigation system to
increase the amount of surface water available for delivery to reduce groundwater pumping.
G. As a condition of the simultaneously executed ESPA Groundwater to Surface Water Conversion
Grant Contract No. 9097 (Grant Contract), the Board and the City of Rexburg seek to enter into
this Agreement documenting the City of Rexburg’s compliance with the Authorization Criteria
by imposing monitoring and reporting requirements over the next twenty years to ensure
groundwater pumping is reduced at the conversion Project Area to assist with stabilizing the
ESPA.
The Parties agree as follows:
1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The Board has invested substantial resources to fund the Project to convert groundwater irrigation
to surface water irrigation when surface water is available to reduce withdrawals from the ESPA.
The purpose of this Agreement is to establish the City of Rexburg’s intent to comply with the
Authorization Criteria in ensuring a reduction of groundwater withdrawals from the ESPA,
including long-term monitoring and reporting of groundwater withdrawals at the Project Area.
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2. DEFINITIONS
A. “Converted surface water” refers to the surface water shares used on the same grounds as the
existing groundwater right.
B. “Existing groundwater rights” refers to groundwater right(s) 22-7614.
C. “Compliance Period” refers to the twenty-year period following the date of the Project
completion.
D. “Soft conversion” refers to projects that would partially convert to the use of surface water but
may need to use groundwater when surface water is unavailable.
E. “Project” refers to the installation of a pump from the Rexburg Canal and the construction of the
pipeline from the pump to Porter Park for the purpose of conducting soft conversions.
F. “Project Area” refers to the acreage historically irrigated with existing groundwater rights that will
be irrigated with converted surface water when it is in priority and available. This Project Area is
located in the City of Rexburg, Twp 06N Rge 40E Sec 30.
G. “Authorization Criteria” refers to the ESPA Groundwater to Surface Water Conversion Grant Criteria
established May 2025.
3. DESIGNATION OF PROJECT MANAGERS
A. The Board’s Project Manager shall be the Idaho Department of Water Resources’ Planning
Project Management Services Supervisor, who shall be the Board’s representative for the
administration of this Agreement. The Board, or anyone authorized to act on its behalf, may
change the Project Manager at any time by written notice served on the CITY OF REXBURG.
B. The City of Rexburg’s Project Manager shall be the Mayor of Rexburg, who shall be the City of
Rexburg’s representative for the administration of this Agreement. The City of Rexburg, or
anyone authorized to act on its behalf, may change its Project Manager at any time by written
notice served on the Board.
4. SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED
A. For the twenty-year Compliance Period following Project completion, the City of Rexburg shall
monitor, document, and report the volume of groundwater withdrawal reductions attributable
to the Project and the volume of converted surface water delivered to the Project Area.
B. City of Rexburg shall monitor groundwater pumping and surface water delivery within the
Project Area to ensure that the groundwater right diversion within the Project Area cease
diverting the portion of existing groundwater rights converted under this Project whenever
converted surface water is delivered to the Project Area. Monitoring shall include reasonable
verification measures, which may include site inspections to confirm non-diversion of existing
groundwater rights when converted surface water is being delivered.
C. On or before February 1 of each year during the Compliance Period, City of Rexburg shall
submit to the Board and the Henry’s Fork Ground Water District (HFGWD) a written report
documenting compliance with the Authorization Criteria and the terms of this Agreement. The
report shall include:
a. Documentation of the volume of converted surface water deliveries to the Project Area
made possible by the Project; and
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b. Documentation of existing groundwater right diversions during the preceding irrigation
season if converted surface water was delivered to the Project Area pursuant to this
Agreement; and
c. Documentation of the volume of groundwater pumping reductions accomplished during
the preceding irrigation season for converted surface water to the Project Area made
possible by the Project.
5. CONDITIONS
This Agreement is executed contemporaneously with the Grant Contract. The City of Rexburg’s
acceptance of funds under the Grant Contract constitutes agreement to be bound by this
Agreement.
6. TERM
A. This Agreement shall take effect when both parties have signed it. The date of this Contract
will be the date the Contract is signed by the last party to sign it and shall continue in effect
during the Twenty-Year Period.
B. The Twenty-Year Period will automatically renew unless either party provides notice of
termination within 30 days of the end of the Twenty-Year Period.
7. NOTICES
All notices shall be in writing and sent certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested to:
Idaho Water Resource Board
Attn: Purchasing Agent
PO Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0098
Contractor
Address listed in the
Contractor’s Signature Block
8. COUNTERPARTS
This Agreement may be executed with electronic signatures and in multiple counterparts, each of
which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same
document.
The parties have executed this Agreement on the date following their respective signatures.
State of Idaho
IDAHO WATER RESOURCE BOARD
322 E Front Street, Suite 648
PO Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0098
CITY OF REXBURG
35 N 1st E
Rexburg, ID 83440
Brian Patton
Executive Manager
Jerry Merrill
Mayor
Date Date