Opinion ID: 874027
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the District Court Err in Affirming the Special Master's Findings as to the Priority Dates for Water Rights 29-13558 and 29-13639?

Text: The Director's Report recommended water right number 29-13558 with a priority date of July 16, 1924, and water right number 29-13639 with a priority date of October 22, 1952. The report shall constitute prima facie evidence of the nature and extent of the water rights acquired under state law. I.C. § 42-1411(4). Any party filing an objection to any portion of the director's report shall have the burden of going forward with the evidence to rebut the director's report as to all issues raised by the objection. I.C. § 42-1411(5). Each claimant of a water right acquired under state law has the ultimate burden of persuasion for each element of a water right. Id. Pocatello claimed that the priority date for 29-13558 was 1905 and that the priority date for 29-13639 was December 31, 1940. The matter was tried to a special master, who found that Pocatello had not met its burden of proof as to both of its claimed priority dates. The trier of fact has the primary responsibility for weighing the evidence and determines whether the required burden of proof on an issue has been met. Clear Springs Foods, Inc. v. Clear Lakes Trout Co., 136 Idaho 761, 765, 40 P.3d 119, 123 (2002). The district court was required to accept the master's findings of fact unless they were clearly erroneous. Idaho R. Civ. P. 53(e)(2). The district court determined that they were not clearly erroneous and accepted them. The special master's findings of facts, which are adopted by the SRBA district court, are considered to be the findings of the SRBA district court. Clear Springs Foods, 136 Idaho at 764, 40 P.3d at 122. A trial court's findings of fact will not be set aside on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous. Bramwell v. South Rigby Canal Co., 136 Idaho 648, 650, 39 P.3d 588, 590 (2001); Idaho R. Civ. P. 52(a). On appeal, we do not judge the credibility of the witnesses or the weight of the evidence. Bream v. Benscoter, 139 Idaho 364, 367, 79 P.3d 723, 726 (2003). We only examine the record to determine if the factual findings are supported by evidence that a reasonable trier of fact would accept and rely upon in determining whether a disputed issue of fact has been proved. Id. at 367-68, 79 P.3d at 726-27. Water Right 29-13558. In its supplemental Director's Report, IDWR explained its recommendation for the priority date of this water right as follows: This water right is based on beneficial use and is for the first well used by the City of Alameda and developed by the predecessor to the City of Alameda. . . . Pocatello claimed a priority date of 1905 and states specifically in its objection that the date should be June 30, 1905. However, the supporting documentation provided by the City to the Department only supports a July 16, 1924 priority date. According to a newspaper article in the claim file the city of Alameda was founded on July 17, 1924. According to the article, the first well was dug to a depth of 65 feet. The article further states that the well was deepened to a depth of 100 feet during the term of Alameda's first mayor. The priority date recommended by the Department is one day before the City of Alameda was founded. The Department recommended this date because the well appeared to be in existence when the City was founded. The actual date the well was developed has not been documented. There is nothing in the record even remotely supporting Pocatello's claim to a 1905 priority date. The newspaper article was in the July 20, 1952, edition of the Alameda Enterprise, and it reported a speech given to a service club by an early pioneer resident of Alameda. The article reported that the speaker came to the area in 1905, and that is apparently how Pocatello arrived at its claimed priority date of 1905. The article did not report the speaker as stating that the well was in existence when he came to the area. The only inference that could be drawn from the article is that the well was in existence when Alameda was founded. The speaker's only reported comments regarding when the well came into existence were as follows: In commenting on the city water system, the speaker pointed out that the first well was dug to a depth of 65 feet, providing a good supply of water, but during the term of Mr. Freckleton, Alameda's first mayor, the well was drilled down to 100 ft. and another 65 ft. well was dug later. On appeal, Pocatello does not contend that there is any evidence in the record supporting its claimed 1905 priority date, or any other date. It simply argues that there is evidence that the villages of North Pocatello and Fairview consolidated to form Alameda and that the principal purpose was to purchase an existing water system. Pocatello concludes by stating, This evidence supports an earlier priority date than July 16, 1924, for water right 29-13588, although it does not argue that the evidence supports any particular date, month, or year as the priority date. Until 1971 Idaho recognized two methods of appropriating water of the state both of which were equally valid: the statutory method of appropriation and the constitutional method of appropriation. Fremont-Madison Irrigation Dist. and Mitigation Group v. Idaho Ground Water Appropriators, Inc., 129 Idaho 454, 456, 926 P.2d 1301, 1303 (1996). Water right 29-13588 is based upon the constitutional method. When one diverts unappropriated water and applies it to a beneficial use, the right dates from the application of the water to a beneficial use. Crane Falls Power & Irrigation Co. v. Snake River Irrigation Co., 24 Idaho 63, 82, 133 P. 655, 661 (1913). That date must be based upon evidence, not speculation. If a water right is based upon the constitutional method, one of the essential requisites to establish his claim is the application of water to a beneficial use, and, where there is a total lack of evidence upon this point, a decree awarding water to the claimant cannot be sustained. Reno v. Richards, 32 Idaho 1, 8, 178 P. 81, 83 (1918). In Reno, Franklin A. Reno and Jennie C. Reno each had 160-acre homestead entries to which canals and laterals were constructed in 1904, permitting water to flow over their lands for the irrigation of natural grasses. However, there was no cultivation on their tracts until 1907. The trial court awarded them each a water right of 3.2 second feet with a date of priority in 1904. Even though the irrigation of natural grasses was a beneficial use, we vacated the awards because we have failed to find any evidence showing the amount of water applied to the homestead entries in question during the years 1904, 1905, and 1906; nor is there any evidence at all definite as to whether the whole, or a portion only, of said tracts were irrigated during those years. Id. at 14-15, 178 P. at 86. We added that it appears that the awards to each of these claimants give them a date of priority in advance of the actual application of the water to a beneficial use of which there is any definite evidence, and in amounts greater than that actually applied from year to year. Id. at 15, 178 P. at 86 (emphasis added). Likewise, in Rabido v. Furey, 33 Idaho 56, 190 P. 73 (1920), the plaintiffs began in 1906 cleaning out a spring and constructing a ditch to transport the spring water to a natural channel that ran through a canyon. In 1907, the water flowed down to the mouth of the canyon where they diverted it into a ditch they had constructed. In 1909, they irrigated 40 acres of the plaintiff Mary Rabido's land. The trial court found that her priority date was 1907, the year the water was brought down the canyon. We disagreed, stating, [W]e must fall back on the date of the actual application of the water for the date of her priority. From the evidence in the record it is not possible to state exactly when the .8 second feet of water was applied to her entry. Id. at 63, 190 P. at 75. With respect to water right number 29-13558, there is no evidence in the record that the water from this well was actually applied to a beneficial use at any time prior to the date decreed by the district court. Therefore, it did not err in determining that the priority date is July 16, 1924. Water Right 29-13639. In its supplemental Director's Report, IDWR explained its recommendation for the priority date of this water right as follows: The City of Pocatello claimed this water right as a beneficial use right from Alameda well no. 3. License no. 29-2324 which covered Alameda well nos. 1, 2 and 3 has a priority date of October 22, 1952. . . . The City objected to the recommended priority date stating that the priority date should be December 31, 1940. The City has not provided any evidence to support the claimed priority date. Thus, the Department recommended this water right with the licensed priority date of October 22, 1952, because there was no evidence to support an earlier date. The special master moved the date forward one day to October 21, 1952, because the application for the permit, the first step in obtaining a license, indicated the well was in existence when the application was filed, and the court affirmed that date because the State did not object. Pocatello claims that this water right was acquired earlier than October 21, 1952, based upon the constitutional method of appropriation. An appropriator who has obtained a water right under the constitutional method does not waive that right or its priority by later seeking a license under the statutory method of appropriation. Clark v. Hansen, 35 Idaho 449, 454, 206 P. 808, 809 (1922). However, to obtain an earlier date Pocatello had the burden of proving its claim with definite evidence showing an earlier date on which the water was applied to a beneficial use and the amount so applied. As with water right number 29-13558, Pocatello did not do so. It simply states, Alameda grew from a population of 2100 people in 1940 to 4705 people in 1950 and to over 10,000 people in 1960. This evidence supports a priority date earlier than October 21, 1952 for water right 29-13639. It again does not identify what the earlier date should be. It apparently wants this Court to speculate as to one. Speculation is not a substitute for evidence. The district court did not err in determining that the priority date for water right number 29-13558 was October 21, 1952.