Water rights questioned

 Heidi Desch
River View The Kootenai River, U.S. Highway 2 and the railroad tracks weave their way through the mountains west of Libby. The view is from the old Highway 2 trail.
Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 1:20 pm | Updated: 1:44 pm, Wed Mar 7, 2012.

Water rights questioned Sandra Faye Douthit - ReporterThe Western News

The state of Montana proposed a resolution for off-reservation water rights claims for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Polson on Wednesday, Feb. 29 and Commissioner Tony Berget was there.

The original resolution was proposed July 20, 2011, yet was revised for the presentation to the tribal council by the state before the meeting.

The proposal establishes the rights of level and goals that would provide:

     • Fishery resources in the drainages — providing them with tangible biological benefits;

     • Flow-ramping rates and seasonal minimum discharges from Libby Dam designed to protect the
         bull trout;
     • Protection to the existing water-rights holders,
     • Remaining water from the drainages to be used for future development of new consumptive
         uses.

The resolution would recognize the instream flow rights in the Kootenai and Swan rivers drainages.

However, the current EH is based on data that was gathered from 1929 to 1971 by natural flow conditions, and prior to the installment of the Libby Dam, which was built in 1972.

The effects from the operations of the Libby Dam have caused altered natural flow conditions to the Kootenai River.

The flow from the dam changes the levels of the junior surface and ground irrigators.

Depending how many gallons-per-minute (GPM), junior water rights holders could bring action predicated on an assertion of water waste — to “call” a claim.

The state believes it is reasonable to suspend the ability to call on junior users so long as the Libby Dam remains in place and the Army Corps of Engineers adheres to the requirements of the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion and the Montana Operations.
The instream flow from the Kootenai River also includes basin and sub-basin restrictions on new uses of water until a comprehensive water rights settlement among the tribes, state and the U.S. is ratified by the Montana legislature. These restrictions are determined by monthly volume maximums for the post-Compact water permits issued by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). The permits provide protection covers for the sub-basin for the core bull trout streams.

The volumes of the Kootenai Basin sub-basins, Grave Creek and O’Brien Creek, existing rights are fully exhausted. Subsequently, the DNRC will not issue permits for the two sub-basins and proposes the closure of future permits as part of the Compact. Read more:  http://www.thewesternnews.com/news/article_c6da2ff2-67c9-11e1-b702-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=image&photo=0