The main advantage of a water reservation over an 

 individual water use permit is that once approved, the 

 reservation sets aside water for a particular use. Thus, the 

 reservation law allows for the planning and allocation of 

 water for future uses. Those entities eligible to use 

 reserved water have a longer time period (up to 30 years or 

 more) to put the water to beneficial use and still maintain 

 their early priority date. By comparison, water use permits 

 must be put to beneficial use within a few years. 



To justify the need for a reservation for irrigation or 

 domestic uses, an applicant must prepare a water use plan 

 that identifies future water users and their estimated water 

 needs. This information explains why the water must be 

 limited to a specific future use and why the applicant is 

 ineligible to appropriate water by means of a permit. The 

 reservation statute and rules require the applicant to fully 

 support the purpose, need, amount, and public interest of a 

 proposed reservation. Reservations for instream flow are 

 limited to 50 percent of the average annual flow on gaged 

 streams. The statute assigns administrative responsibilities 

 to the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation. The 

 Board, which is made up of seven citizens from around the 

 state, is appointed by the governor. 



The Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) requires ah 

 environmental impact statement for actions of state govern- 

 ment that have the potential to create a significant impact 

 on the environment. The EIS examines the environmental, 

 social, and economic impacts of the reservation. 



Upper Clark Fork Water Reservations Proceedings 



The DNRC has received two applications to reserve water 

 in the upper Clark Fork Basin above Milltown Dam. One 

 applicant is the DFWP, which wishes to reserve instream flows 

 in the mainstem of the Clark Fork and 17 of its tributaries 

 (DFWP 1986) . The other. Granite County Conservation 

 District, is seeking to reserve water for irrigation use by 

 developing a storage reservoir on the North Fork of Willow 

 Creek between Drummond and Philipsburg. Table 2-14 sum- 

 marizes the reservation applications. 



A draft EIS on the reservation applications in the upper 

 Clark Fork Basin was issued in November 1988 (DNRC 1988a) . 

 Following a 60-day comment period, the final EIS will be 

 prepared and distributed. The DNRC will then publish the 

 notice and receive written objections to the reservation 

 applications. If the DNRC determines that the objections are 

 valid, a formal contested case hearing will be held. The 

 Board will probably make the decision on the upper Clark Fork 



2-21 



