Legislative Update: Water Rights

As both an irrigator and a member of the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission (RWRCC), I want you to make your voice heard. 

The Flathead Joint Board of Control (FJBC) is accepting written comments until July 16 on the Water Use Agreement that the FJBC has been negotiating with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) and the United States. 

This agreement is intended to define the relationship between Flathead Indian Irrigation Project and instream flow uses after a compact quantifying the CSKT’s water rights is approved by the Montana legislature, the US Congress and the CSKT. Although the State is not a party to the FJBC/CSKT/US Water Use Agreement, the draft agreement is available on the RWRCC’s website (www.dnrc.mt.gov/rwrcc). 

The agreement aims to strike a balance between protecting irrigation uses and allowing the CSKT to exercise the instream flow rights guaranteed by the Hellgate Treaty. This is an important component of the protections for existing water users that the RWRCC is bargaining for in our ongoing Compact negotiations with the CSKT. If, after the public comment period, the FJBC, CSKT and US decide to go ahead with the Water Use Agreement, that agreement would be included as part of the water rights Compact. 

Be sure to review the agreement and contact the FJBC, the Tribes or RWRCC staff if you have any questions about the draft Water Use Agreement or the compact negotiations. The address of the FJBC for written comment is 524 N. Main St., St. Ignatius, Mont.