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We suck at managing exempt wells: Is there big trouble in Big Sky?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 24, 2009 at 7:09 am

we suckFrom Michael Campana at the Water Wired blog:

“Cally Carswell’s recent post on the Goat Blog of the High Country News relates the story of exempt well problems in Montana’s Gallatin Valley. There, rancher Joseph Miller is claiming that exempt wells, aka domestic wells, are depleting his water. These wells supply water to the new homes and subdivisions in the valley. Miller believes thay have been responsible for drying up at least one stream on his ranch. The rub is that Miller likely has permitted rights to his water, whereas the exempt wells, by definition, are exempt from permits.

Carswell reports:

To address the problem, Miller and a few other ranchers recently petitioned Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to stop letting residential developments use exempt wells to skirt the state’s water laws. They claim exempt wells will draw down water supplies that they have senior rights to.

I have previously posted on Western exempt well issues including the Bounds case in New Mexico, which sounds similar to the situation Carswell describes. This case, still under appeal as far as I know, found for the rancher who claimed domestic wells were impairing his water right. … “

Continue reading at the Water Wired blog by clicking here.

December 24, 2009 · Filed Under Groundwater

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