Surface Water 



There are a number of issues that affect the avail- 

 ability of surface water for new uses in the Clark Fork 

 Basin. These issues include the number and magnitude of 

 existing rights and the extent of the aboriginal fishing and 

 cultural water rights claimed by the Confederated Salish and 

 Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. The water 

 rights of the tribes is an important issue that should be 

 analyzed beyond this report. The concerns related to 

 existing water rights and claims include those claims 

 submitted as part of the statewide adjudications and the 

 large hydropower water rights that use most of the flows of 

 the Clark Fork Basin. However, it should be noted that the 

 larger water users have not objected to new uses of water, 

 and it has not yet been established that their water rights 

 would be adversely affected by these new uses. These issues 

 are elaborated in the following sections. 



Hydropower Water Rights 



A number of large run-of-the-river power facilities are 

 located in the Clark Fork Basin. They include the Milltown, 

 Kerr, and Thompson Falls hydropower facilities, which are 

 owned and operated by the Montana Power Company, and Noxon 

 Rapids and Cabinet Gorge, which are controlled by the 

 Washington Water Power Company. The WWP claimed 35,000 cfs 

 through the statewide adjudications and received a provi- 

 sional permit in 1976 from the DNRC for an additional 15,000 

 cfs for the Noxon Rapids facility. 



Analyses conducted by Fitz (1980) and Holnbeck (1988) 

 suggest that water available to upstream users for future 

 upstream development is severely limited because of Noxon 

 Rapids. Based on data from the period 1961-1986, if WWP is 

 certified to have a 50,000 cfs water right, then no water is 

 available for appropriation to upstream users in eight years 

 out of ten. On an average basis, approximately 5,900 cfs 

 would be available for future use between May 25 and June 17 

 in five years out of ten. In three years out of ten, an 

 average of approximately 21,000 cfs is available between May 

 25 and June 17. The long-term average flow of the Clark Fork 

 below Noxon Rapids is 21,020 cfs (USGS 1987), which is 

 considerably less than the 50,000 cfs capacity of the 

 turbines at the Noxon Rapids facility. But by virtue of the 

 appropriation doctrine, the rights must reflect the actual 

 maximum use at any given time. Additional data are illu- 

 strated in Table 4-3 and Figure 4-1. 



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