Know your water rights
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Editor,
Did you receive a DNRC water rights letter?
Many property owners, including me and my wife, have official U.S. government documents stating that “water rights” came with the original purchase of our lands in the early 1900s. Some property owners have such documents signed by the president of the United States.
The Montana constitution adopted in 1972 clarifies that the State of Montana owns all water in the state and that only the state can grant a right to use water. To protect those who held a water right as of 1972, the constitution provided that pre-1973 water right claims were to be recognized. In 1979 our state legislature established the Montana Water Court to adjudicate – i.e. decide on the validity of water right claims up to July 1973.
Also in 1979, Montana’s Supreme Court issued an order requiring all persons claiming pre-1973 water rights to file their claims with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation by January 1982. Failure to file by January 1982 meant a loss of a pre-1973 water right.
In 2015, the Water Court started adjudication procedures in two water basins encompassing large areas south and north of Polson. As a first step, the Water Court asked DNRC to examine all pre-1973 water right claims in these two basins that had been filed with the DNRC by 1982. Over 12,000 property owners recently received letters reporting any issues raised by DNRC technical examiners on their claims.
We did not receive a DNRC letter because an earlier owner of our farm had failed to file a claim by 1982. We support the Water Compact because it gives us confidence that our farm will have a right to project irrigation water despite not having a state water right. But I have talked to many opponents of the Compact who believe that the Compact takes away a U.S. government guaranteed water right on their irrigation water.
If property owners believe they have a pre-1973 water right but did not receive a DNRC letter, they should contact immediately the DNRC office in Kalispell: 1-406-751-2241.
Dick Erb
Moiese
