Water-rights letters flood DNRC with questions

Officials with Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation say a routine round of letters sent to water-rights holders in two Northwest Montana basins are being conflated with concerns over a pair of unrelated — but controversial — issues in the area.

The department recently began sending “statements of claim” asking some water rights claimants to review the state’s information as the two basins head toward the adjudication process in the Montana Water Court. The letters pertain to Basin 76L, which covers the Flathead Indian Reservation, and Basin 76LJ, which includes properties in the Flathead River basin north of the reservation.

Included in the statements are abstracts and historical use information for individual water rights, and recipients have an opportunity to either confirm the information is correct or provide additional information to correct the record.

“What seems to have happened, given everything that’s going on with the CSKT compact and the Montana Artesian proposal, some people became confused as to why they’re getting these letters and they wondered if it has something to do with these proposals,” department spokesman John Grassy said, adding that the DNRC has been “inundated with calls.”

Passed last year by the state Legislature, the water rights compact for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has stirred up significant controversy due to its impacts on state water rights holders both on and off the reservation.

Separately, a proposal by the Montana Artesian Water Co. to construct a water bottling facility near Creston has prompted substantial backlash from residents concerned with a range of potential impacts from the plant, including the availability of well water from the underlying aquifer.

Kathy Olsen, manager of the DNRC regional water office in Kalispell, said the letters would have gone out to water rights holders in the two basins regardless of the other two issues, which she added have no impact on the ongoing adjudication process to close those basins.

“We’re just helping the water court through this initial process of getting it ready,” Olsen said.

The letters apply to water rights claims filed before July 1, 1973. The two basins for which letters are being sent are the last ones to go through the adjudication process since it began in the 1980s, according to the department.

They are also independent from water rights related to the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, Olsen added.

Since they were sent, the Montana Water Court has extended the initial, 30-day deadline for responses to the letters. Olsen said water rights holders now have several months to respond, and there isn’t currently a hard deadline.

Claimants with questions or other concerns can visit the local DNRC office in Kalispell for clarification, or call 406-542-4300.