Unlike eastern ‘riparian’ states, Idaho allocates water under prior appropriation. The state’s water belongs to the public, but the right to use it is acquired by diverting it and putting it to a beneficial use — irrigation, domestic, stock, and the like. Priority date controls: ‘first in time, first in right,’ so in a dry year senior right holders are served before junior ones (Idaho Constitution Art. XV, § 3; Idaho Code Title 42). The right is defined and limited by the beneficial use made of the water, and it can be lost if the use is abandoned or forfeited. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) administers and records water rights. For property with irrigation, stock, or surface-water rights, understanding the priority date and the specific terms of the right matters as much as the acreage.