Through the Waters: An Oral History of the Snake River Basin Adjudication

It was a task many critics said could not be done – and it almost came undone at many turning points. But after 27 years the Snake River Basin Adjudication stands not only as one of the largest legal cases in American history but as a massive achievement in organizing Idaho’s most precious natural resoource – it water – and setting a framework for its management for many decades to come. That improbable story is told here by three dozen of the people most centrally involved with it – judges (including all of the presiding judges) and justices, attorneys, legislators, engineers, water managers, water users and others with a front row seat – and a place in the room when the decisions were made. This is the inside view of how this immense project, the assignment of more than 150,000 water rights, was accomplished.