The court of appeals affirmed a district court judgment. The court held that the federal government did not have to allege and prove that a defendant’s injection of water into a deep well without a permit would have an adverse effect on an underground source of drinking water in order to establish a criminal violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
As manager of a large Idaho farming and cattle operation known as Double C Farms Partnership, Cory King applied to the Idaho Department of Water Resources for a permit to inject winter runoff from a nearby creek into a well on the agricultural property. King’s goal was to store the water for irrigation use in the summer. The State denied the permit.
