Nobody likes the landmark Nez Perce water rights agreement working its way through the Idaho Legislature.

Seven-term lawmaker Jack Barraclough from Idaho Falls believes the agreement concedes too much to the tribe, but he supports the deal because it’s the last chance to resolve Snake River water rights. Twelve-term Rep. JoAn Wood of Rigby dabbed at tears when she said she’d back the pact, too. Meanwhile, not all Nez Perce members agree the tribe should forsake their historical claim to virtually all of the water in the Snake River in exchange for a long list of concessions.

With all the key players somewhat dissatisfied, the pact appears to be the best solution for a bad situation.

Crucially, however, the agreement doesn’t affect one peripheral player: North Idaho.

One of the overriding issues of last fall’s legislative campaigns in the five northern counties was protection of the region’s water from a one-size-fits-all agreement to settle southern Idaho’s water woes. The agreement does that. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has promised in writing that the arrangement won’t allow downstream interests to try to tap into more water from Panhandle lakes and streams. The bipartisan work of state Reps. George Eskridge, R-Dover, and George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, on the House Resources and Conservation Committee was crucial to secure Kempthorne’s pledge.

The bill was sent to the Idaho Senate after being approved in the House Wednesday, 55-14, with the only North Idaho dissent coming from Reps. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Wallace, Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, and Phil Hart, R-Athol.

Belatedly, North Idahoans have developed a deeper appreciation for their water.

Since before statehood, Panhandle residents have recognized the importance of their bountiful surface water for transportation and recreation. In recent years, the stigma of a superfund designation and downstream discontent with mining wastes and wastewater discharge have forced community leaders to pay attention to water quality, too. Now, the region is fixated by the quality of their drinking water as a result of two spills at the BNSF Railway refueling station near Hauser.

In southern Idaho, where the Snake River has turned the desert into a farmers’ paradise, the issue is quantity. Water is gold. Farmers battle fiercely for every drop. To date, southern Idaho farmers have spent $5 million fighting the Nez Perce claims to water in court. Without this settlement, they could go on fighting for decades and lose most of their water.

Under the $193 million settlement, according to staff writer Betsy Z. Russell, the tribe relinquishes claims to almost all the Snake River in exchange for federal funds for fish habitat, water supply and related projects; several parcels of federal land; 50,000 acre feet of water to use on its reservation; and protections for endangered salmon and other fish.

The agreement has been approved by Congress and signed by the president. Now, it needs the approval of the Legislature and the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. North Idaho senators should embrace the pact, too.