Water Law (Cont.) 



PREZ SEZ (Cont.; 



District Courts. The Dept. may 

 also initiate court proceedings 

 for a determination of existing 

 rights in the area if a deter- 

 mination has not been made pre- 

 viously . 



7. Can I reserve water to be 

 put to use at some future time? 



Not as an individual. After 

 July 1, the federal government, 

 a state agency, or a political 

 subdivision such as a town or 

 an irrigation district, may re- 

 quest a reservation of water 

 from the Board of Natural Re- 

 sources and Conservation. 

 Again, appropriate forms will 

 be available. 



8. Will I be required to in- 

 stall measuring devices? 



The Act provides that the 

 Board of Natural Resources and 

 Conservation may by rule re- 

 quire appropriators to install 

 suitable controlling and mea- 

 suring devices. At this time, 

 these rules have not been 

 adopted, but it is anticipated 

 that such devices will not be 

 required except in areas where 

 water use is critical. 



The Montana Water Use Act can 

 help you individually, and it can 

 help agriculture generally, be- 

 cause it will strengthen every 

 valid claim to water. The Dept. 

 needs your help in return, for 

 only through your cooperation 

 and assistance can we make the 

 new law work as it was intended. 



Therefore, if you have addi- 

 tional questions or suggestions 

 on how we can better inform you 

 of the new law's provisions, we 

 urge you to contact the: 



Water Resources Division 

 Department of Natural Resources 



and Conservation 

 Sam W. Mitchell Building 

 Helena, MT 59601 Ph. 449-3634 



to be a member of county planning 

 boards. This will mean that con- 

 servation districts will have 

 active input of their land use 

 planning programs to county land 

 use planning programs. 



2. Sediment Control Law - The 

 Montana Legislature has under 

 consideration SB 401, a proposed 

 Soil Erosion and Sediment Control 

 Law to enable Montana to comply 

 with the Federal Water Pollution 

 Control Act. This points up added 

 importance for land use planning 

 for all land disturbing activities. 



3. National Land Use Planning 

 Act - The congress has under con- 

 sideration several bills to re- 

 quire states to do land use plan- 

 ning and adopt land use policy. 

 CDs should be involved. 



4. Old West Commission - This 

 is a grouping of states that are 

 working together to develop the 

 resources and economy of Montana, " 

 Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dako- 

 ta and Nebraska. CDs can work 

 actively with this Commission. 



5. Montana Land Use Policy - 

 The Montana Environmental Quality 

 Council will be making studies 

 under HJR 9 for Montana Land Use 

 Policy to submit to the 1975 leg- 

 islature. CDs of Montana will need 

 to offer their ideas some of which 

 were reflected in HJR 35, a pro- 

 posal for Montana Land Use Policy. 



From the foregoing you can see 

 that Montana CDs will continue to 

 be up to the hilt in land use 

 planning activities. 



Your President is greatly con- 

 cerned with the additional work- 

 load and public demands of the CD 

 supervisors. Also, with the cut 

 in SCS budgets, consolidation of 

 work units seems to be a must. If 

 we are to continue to serve the 

 demands of society in the public 

 interest, CDs will need more sup- 

 port. 



