HomeMy WebLinkAboutDNRCWaterRightExemption_06-23-20RE: [EXTERNAL] Re: DEQ Requests Guidance
From:Strasheim, Kerri | kstrasheim@mt.gov Tuesday, Jun 23, 2020, 3:00 PM
To:Mark Owkes | mark.owkes@gmail.com
Cc:Erik Bonnett | erik.bonnett@gmail.com, Brian Heaston | bheaston@bozeman.net
Mark –
Thank you for the opportunity to review your project. Per the information that you provided, the exempt
groundwater use for this development will not exceed 10 acre-feet (AF). An existing water right, 41H
35695-00, protects up to three acres and 7.5 AF for lawn and garden irrigation and another 0.5 AF for
domestic uses with a flow rate of 50 gallons per minute (GPM) in a 1981 well. The development proposes to
remain at three acres or less of lawn and garden irrigation. Another existing well is described that is most
likely pre-1962 and doesn’t require a water right filing for stock and domestic (including lawn and garden)
uses, so this well, if remaining, doesn’t count towards the exemption limit. Proposed stock use up 0.034 AF
can either be filed additionally or is already perfected. Total continuing groundwater use is proposed at
7.534 AF, so no permitting is required ahead of time. All other water use will be provided by the City of
Bozeman.
Standard Language:
In Clark Fork Coalition, et. al. v. DNRC, et. al., 2016 MT 229, 384 Mont. 503, 380 P.3d 771, the Montana Supreme
Court concluded that the definition of “combined appropriation” in Admin. R. Mont. 36.12.101(13) was invalid. The
Court reinstated the Department’s 1987 Rule defining “combined appropriation” as: “An appropriation of water from
the same source aquifer by means of two or more groundwater developments, the purpose of which, in the
department’s judgment, could have been accomplished by a single appropriation. Groundwater developments
need not be physically connected nor have a common distribution system to be considered a “combined
appropriation.” They can be separate developed springs or wells to separate parts of a project or development.
Such wells and springs need not be developed simultaneously. They can be developed gradually or in increments.
The amount of water appropriated from the entire project or development from these groundwater developments in
the same source aquifer is the “combined appropriation.”
Under this Rule, the Department interprets subdivisions that are pending before the Department of Environmental
Quality for approval on October 17, 2014 or filed after that date to be a single project that can be accomplished by
a single appropriation. Consequently, all wells in such a subdivision will be considered a “combined appropriation”
for the purposes of Mont. Code Ann. 85-2-306. The only exception to this interpretation is that a subdivision which
has received preliminary plat approval prior to October 17, 2014 will not be considered a project under the
“combined appropriation” 1987 Rule; individual lots will still be evaluated under the 1987 Rule at the time of an
application to the Department. 2015 Mont. Laws § 1, Ch. 221.
This communication does not serve as a pre-approval for a water right.
Have a good day,
Kerri
___________________
Kerri Strasheim
Regional Manager – Gallatin, Madison, and Park Counties
MT DNRC Water Resources
2273 Boot Hill Court, Suite 110
Bozeman, MT 59715
Ph: 406-556-4504
Fax: 406-587-9726
kstrasheim@mt.gov