Just add water

Group proposes controlling Echo, Abbot, Peterson lake levels

After years of behind-the-scenes work, a formal attempt is under way to control water levels in Echo, Abbot and Peterson lakes by creating a public water conservancy district and diverting flows from Noisy Creek.

The project is being pursued by a group of lakeside property owners. It offers an opportunity to stabilize lake levels that have fluctuated substantially during the years - but also raises questions about appropriating water supplies that may be recharging the valley's deep, artesian aquifer.

A hearing on the proposed district will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Swan River Community Hall, 115 Swan River Road. A preliminary study of the project is available for review at the Bigfork library.

The intent of the district, according to the study, is to obtain a water right on Noisy Creek, which runs down from Jewel Basin and disappears into the ground east of Echo Lake. The water would be diverted into Echo Creek, which flows into Echo Lake, to help maintain lake levels more suitable for fishing, boating and other recreational uses, and that protects property values.

Exactly how much of the Noisy Creek flows would be diverted is unknown and depends on whether the district gets a water right - which isn't guaranteed - and on the size of that right.

If successful, this would be only the second conservancy district in Montana.

"One was created in Libby, and they tried to create a second one there, but it didn't fly. I'm not sure there are any more in the state," said Marc Spratt, founder of RLK Hydro in Kalispell, which conducted the preliminary study.

The proposal to form the conservancy district came from 26 registered voters who live near the lakes. They signed a petition last year asking the state to start the process.

After Thursday's public hearing, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation will decide whether to proceed to a more-detailed final study, based on a variety of statutory criteria. If the agency ultimately supports the idea, it would petition the District Court to create the conservancy. An election would be scheduled, giving property owners in the proposed district the final say about whether it gets created or not.

The district would encompass about 1,300 acres, including all three lakes, all the lots immediately adjacent to the lakes, plus a few major subdivisions and large lots near the lakes.

When formed, the conservancy could assess as much as five mills a year on all district property owners to pay for the water-right application and the operations, maintenance and debt costs of any water projects. If necessary, it also could set fees, be sued, enter into contracts and, subject to voter approval, issue bonds.

The preliminary study indicated more than 380 property owners would be affected by this proposal, including a number of absentee owners. Flathead County Election Administrator Monica Eizenzimmer said all of them would be able to vote on the formation of the district, regardless of where they live, assuming the idea gets to that stage.

Drought conditions during the past several years are the primary issue driving this plan.

At historic full pool, Echo Lakes has about 725 surface acres. According to the study, that dropped to about 500 "usable" acres during the drought. A short causeway that connects Echo Lake with Abbot and Peterson lakes dried up temporarily, as well.

"All three lakes are shallow, even in good years," Spratt said. "So raising the level even two or three feet makes a substantial difference. This project would also increase the lake levels earlier in the year, which would be better for recreational interests."

However, one of the unanswered questions regarding this proposal is whether the Noisy Creek diversion would provide any lasting benefit for lake levels - and if so, at whose expense.

Kurt Hafferman, manager of the DNRC Water Resources office in Kalispell, said previous hydrogeological studies indicate that the water levels in these lakes are controlled primarily by groundwater sources - either by an underlying shallow aquifer, or by the deep artesian aquifer that underlies most of the Flathead Valley.

"That area is one of the main contact points between the deep aquifer and the shallow aquifers along the edge of the valley," Hafferman said. "The lakes are windows on the shallow aquifer. When the deep aquifer is full, or when water is coming in too fast, it starts to fill the shallow aquifers and lake levels rise all along the foothills; when they're drawn down by drought, lake levels fall."

Consequently, the diversion might just change the timing of any increase.

"All they're doing is mounding water up," Hafferman said. "Eventually, it's all going to bleed back into the aquifer. They dump in a lot of water into Echo Lake now and it doesn't go up that much."

During the past few years, some area homeowners have been diverting a portion of Noisy Creek into Echo Creek and Echo Lake - without benefit of a water right - using a diversion dam that was approved and built in the early 1990s.

The preliminary study indicates that 7,000 acre-feet were siphoned off last year during the spring runoff, an increase from 6,400 acre-feet in 2004.

By comparison, Kalispell residents use about 3,000 acre-feet of drinking water a year.

The survey suggests that this diversion has raised lake levels by about 6 feet.

"There's no question that the bulk of the water in those lakes gets there through groundwater recharge," Spratt said. "But we believe we have some decent information showing that we're getting higher lake levels by diverting these surface flows."

The conservancy district simply would formalize this practice by obtaining a water right, he said. It also could apply for grants to build a diversion dam, if that proves necessary.

(The existing dam is on private property. Spratt thinks the district can get an access easement, but DNRC thinks a new dam and channel modifications might be needed. The estimated cost of the district ranges from $15,000 to $300,000, depending largely on this item.)

It's unclear whether anyone will have to address whether the diversion actually takes away water that otherwise would be recharging the deep aquifer. Hafferman said even the water-right process wouldn't necessarily clarify this issue.

"With water rights, it's all about availability," he said. "Typically, surface and groundwater are treated as completely separate sources."

District proponents say the project also would benefit fish by improving spawning conditions for warm-water species such as bass and pike, and by providing deeper stream flows for cold-water species such as trout.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, however, is skeptical about this claim.

"Water level isn't the only variable driving successful fish reproduction," said fisheries biologist Scott Rumsey, of the department's Kalispell office. "Echo Lake already has a deep-water basin that provides a good thermal refuge for [stocked] trout and kokanee, and its outlying shallow areas are conducive to bass, perch and other warm-water species. It's probably one of the better bass fisheries in this region, and that population has sustained itself for a long time without any surface water diversions."

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com.