U.S. Water News Online
COLUMBUS, Mont. -- A group of Absarokee-area ranchers and landowners seeking protection of senior water rights have filed a lawsuit in District Court here against the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
"Water is critical," said Polly Rex, a spokeswoman for the group. "It's a problem the state is going to have to come to grips with."
The suit claims the DNRC has not followed statute in dealing with a temporary "controlled groundwater area" established southwest of Absarokee in 2004. The designation regulates new wells by requiring them to be permitted through the DNRC and then monitored.
The controlled groundwater area covers roughly 7,000 acres, and was created in response to a petition by the Horse Creek Water Users Inc., a group of area ranchers and landowners.
Rex said the designation evolved from concerns that drought, combined with development of a neighboring subdivision, could deplete the aquifer that supplies water for existing homes and ranch operations.
"We have to prove we've been harmed by junior water users," she said. "We think it should be the other way around -- that they should have to prove that they aren't harming us."
The lawsuit says the group has monitored 23 water sources for nearly four years and determined that the aquifer is fed by a small, localized recharge area that has experienced progressive drawdowns over recent years.
The suit seeks an injunction to stop the DNRC from approving new subdivision wells until the agency has thoroughly assessed the environmental impact of those wells.
It also alleges that the DNRC violated the Montana Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider cumulative impacts of new wells. In addition, it charges the agency with violating Montana's constitutional right to "a clean and healthful environment."
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