Help protect clean water and water users: Comment today on exempt wells

The Clark Fork Coalition is concerned that a "loophole" in Montana's water permitting process is threatening our water rights, rivers, and ranches. In Montana, groundwater wells that pump less than 35 gallons per minute and produce less than 10 acre feet of water a year are not required to get a permit and are not monitored.  Historically, these “exempt wells” have been used in rural areas to provide drinking water for homes, or irrigation water and stock water to farms and ranches.

Over the past two decades, though, large residential subdivision developments have installed "exempt wells" to circumvent the state's water right permitting and mitigation requirements for using water in basins closed to new water rights-- like the Upper Clark Fork and Bitterroot.  This means that hundreds of exempt wells can come online in already over-tapped areas, without any reassurance that this new water use will not decrease the water available for senior water right holders.  By taking advantage of a loophole in Montana's rules, developers can put in hundreds of wells without a permit-- as long as the wells are not piped together.   

In 2009, the Coalition joined several senior water right holders across the state to petition the Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to set aside the problematic exempt well rule and draft a new rule that meets Montana's water needs while also protecting existing water users.  However, the 2011 Legislature stepped in before DNRC began drafting a new exempt well rule, passing a bill that directed the Water Policy Interim Committee to study exempt wells and provide a report to the 2013 Legislature "that provides clear policy direction and necessary legislation to guide Montana's policy" on exempt wells.  

Now it's time for your input.
The Water Policy Interim Committee wants public comment on five proposed bills related to exempt wells as well as other ideas.  Click here to read the Water Policy Proposed Legislation.

Comment in person during one of the WPIC public meetings:
June 19
Bozeman
Gallatin County Courthouse
311 W. Main St., Rm. 306
7:00 p.m.

June 20
Kalispell
Red Lion Inn,
20 N. Main St.
7:00 p.m.

June 21
Hamilton
Bitterroot River Inn,
139 Bitterroot Plaza Dr.
7:00 p.m.

July 12-13, Rm. 172, State Capitol

Sept. 10-11 Rm. 172, State Capitol

Submit your comments in writing:

Via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Via letter to:
Water Policy Interim Committee
Rm. 171B, State Capitol Building
P.O. Box 201704
Helena, MT 59620-1704

Download the Water Policy Interim Committee Brochure

The Clark Fork Coalition is one of many Montana landowners who are concerned that the "exempt well loophole" is threatening our water rights and rivers. We hold a number of senior water rights to irrigate 200 acres of crops on CFC's Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch, as well as several in-stream flow rights on dewatered creeks throughout the basin.

This graph illustrates the number of exempt wells per closed basin.