financial incentives, there was considerable interest in 

 developing small-scale hydropower facilities. 



TABLE 3-4. 



PROVISIONAL WATER USE PERMITS ISSUED 

 SINCE 1973 



Purpose 



Number of 

 Permits 



Total Flow 

 (cfs) 



Volume 

 AF/Y 



Acres 



* A water permit for 15,000 cfs was granted to Washington 

 Water Power, which, when added to its existing water right 

 flow of 35,000 cfs, allows the hydroelectric facility to 

 be operated at full capacity. 



Source: DNRC 1988b. 



Ground Water Permitting Process 



The interaction of surface and ground water raises some 

 difficult questions about basinwide management in the Clark 

 Fork system. Generally, DNRC's ground water permitting 

 decisions consider the surface water effects of ground water 

 withdrawals only where the relationship is straightforward 

 and the interaction a proximal one. Most commonly, this 

 means that if it is shown that a ground water diversion is 

 inducing recharge of an aquifer from a surface water source 

 (or "pumping surface water") , then the ground water proposal 

 will be viewed critically with regard to surface water avail- 

 ability. In the absence of such readily calculable inter- 

 actions, DNRC may notify controlling surface water users in 

 the basin, but beyond that step it will not normally analyze 

 ground water applications in the context of surface water 

 availability, instream flows, or surface water quality 

 objectives. 



Aquifers constitute one flowpath component by which 

 water moves from the headwaters to the mainstem Clark Fork 

 and beyond. Most major aquifers in the Clark Fork Basin 

 receive recharge from the surface environment (precipitation, 



3-10 



