Tribes schedule groundwater overview
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POLSON — Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Hydrologist Seth Makepeace said groundwater water quantifying work is on deck for the technical teams. Makepeace spoke to CSKT, State of Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission and United States negotiation teams at the KwaTaqNuk Resort on April 28 at 9 a.m.
Makepeace said the plan is to bring in groundwater consultant S. S. Papadopulos and Associates Inc. from Boulder, Colo. for the May negotiating session. The firm will provide an overview of groundwater resources on the Flathead Reservation.
Makepeace said he didn’t have a significant technical update and touched on work being done. Data on using Hungry Horse Dam as a supplemental water source still is winding its way through a review by other entities in the Columbia Basin.
Makepeace also said the state had taken lead on mapping existing water uses, permits, claims and groundwater uses and has done a good job. He reported permit verification was very close to complete, as was water court work. The technical teams also have worked with surface water and assembled a body of information.
MRWRCC Chair Chris Tweeten provided an update from the legal working group. He said the attorneys agreed it would be helpful to move to the point of an outline of what a compact ought to look like. To that end, they’ve been reviewing the format of existing compacts to see what, if anything, will adapt.
Since no other tribe in Montana has had the type of treaty language of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, John Carter, CSKT Attorney, said “one bigger dilemma” was how to most effectively fit the unique nature of the Salish and Kootenai rights into a system that fits under state law.
Other questions, Carter said, are how to quantify a water right, whether or not the tribes can tap into in-stream flow from Hungry Horse for domestic and commercial use and if groundwater can satisfy unmet tribal needs.
United States negotiating team member Duane Mecham reported on his trip to Washington, D.C. in March. Mecham said the political leadership in the Department of the Interior is in place. The department wants to work with the tribes and state on the compact from beginning to end.
Mecham said the Department of Reclamation has developed a tool called a Design Estimating and Construction (DEC) review. The Dept. of Reclamation “very willingly agreed” to lend this resource to the Department of the Interior for water projects. Mecham said the process would begin in the next month or two.
In answer to a question from Clayton Matt, CSKT Natural Resources Department Head, Clayton Mecham said the Indian Water Rights working group would welcome a visit from CSKT tribal leadership.
Audience members questioned the negotiators on basin closures, whether or not supplemental water rights and unitary management are tied together, issues of unmet need, and the possibility of infrastructure to move the water from Hungry Horse.
The next negotiation session was scheduled for May 26 at 9 a.m. at the KwaTaqNuk Resort in Polson.
