Some Good News on the Smith River in MT

In 1993, taking new water from the Smith River was banned. This was
pretty clear cut. It was brought to the attention of DNRC that
additional well drilling was diminishing flows in the river and
the courts interpreted the law as to bann additional well drilling.

Needless to say , this was litigated by people who wanted more
irrigation. After many years the case was seemingly concluded and
the DNRC definitively ruled that drilling underground wells in the
SMith River basin has an adverse effect on the river flow. While this
may seem like a no brainer to some , it is a big step forward for the
DNRC.

Of course this is subject to appeal but for the time being it will
stand and the fact that they have accepted the principal of river
water and ground water somehow being linked will be hard to turn back.
This is certainly good news for the trout that suffer very low
warm flows during summer droughts.


MT