Paul Arrington, Idaho Water Users Association
Black Canyon Diversion Dam, on the Payette River near Emmett, Idaho.
T
he Idaho Water Users Association (IWUA) promotes the development, control, conservation, preservation, and utilization of the water resources of the state of Idaho. IWUA’s members include around 300 irrigation districts, canal companies, groundwater districts, agribusinesses, public water supply organizations, private companies, and individuals from around the state who collectively manage water supplies for over 3 million acres of irrigated Idaho farmland. In this interview, Paul Arrington, IWUA’s executive director and general counsel, tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the association has had to face and how it has adjusted its operations to support its members. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and the IWUA.
36 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE
Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations and your members? Paul Arrington: It hasn’t caused huge changes to the day-today work of the association itself. There are usually only two of us in the office, and we have been working from home, but we still do the same things. The legislative session was just finishing around the time the pandemic reached the United States. For me personally, the extensive travel and many meetings I had scheduled for March, April, and May were all canceled, and I got some time back on a personal level. IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.
Paul Arrington: I was born and raised in Idaho. I grew up in a the south-central city of Twin Falls, went to Boise State University, and then got a law degree from Gonzaga University. After graduating, I came back to Twin Falls and practiced water law at the law firm of Barker Rosholt & Simpson for 13 years. There, I got to work with Al Barker, John Rosholt, Norm Semanko, John Simpson, and other great minds of Idaho water. In 2017, Norm Semanko, who was serving as the executive director of the IWUA, decided
to go back into private practice. I was ready to get out of private practice, and working for the IWUA had always appealed to me, so I applied to be its new executive director and was fortunate enough to be chosen. I’ve been serving for 3 years and am just living the dream. The IWUA was formed in 1938 as an association of agricultural water-delivery entities, including irrigation districts, canal companies, and ditch companies; we’ve recently expanded our general membership to include groundwater districts. We also have business members, including chemical companies, liner companies, and other professional firms that support the water delivery industry.
