5. Seek legislation for a moratorium on issuing new water 

 use permits. 



Seek legislation for a moratorium on new water use 

 permits (for purposes other than rural, domestic, and 

 small quantity industrial uses) until some of the issues 

 surrounding the physical and legal availability of water 

 in the Clark Fork Basin are resolved. The legislation 

 should specify a certain size limit for these uses that 

 would allow individuals to meet their needs. 



6. Formulate water allocation alternatives. 



a. Develop a mechanism to deal with water needs should 

 a decision be made to close the Clark Fork Basin 



to new water use permits. 



b. Examine alternatives or options such as interbasin 

 exchanges, free market exchange, and reallocation 

 of hydropower water rights. WWP has expressed a 

 willingness to participate in the exploration of 

 alternative allocations. Institutional barriers to 

 these options should be addressed. 



7. Improve public information on water rights. 



Develop a program to increase awareness of water rights 

 procedures and issues in the Clark Fork Basin. 



Instream Flow 



Instream flow reservations are needed in the Clark Fork 

 Basin to maintain fish and other living organisms, to protect 

 water quality and domestic water supplies, and to enhance 

 aesthetic qualities. Instream flows are a partial solution 

 to the dewatering problem. However, because instream flow 

 rights cannot affect senior diversionary water rights, they 

 only preserve the status quo of stream depletion. They do 

 not prevent dewatering, but can reduce future demands on the 

 streams once the rights are acquired. Rewatering of streams 

 that have severe flow problems can only be accomplished 

 through new strategies, such as purchasing and leasing senior 

 water rights, building new storage projects, and conserving 

 water to free up additional water for instream uses. Some of 

 these strategies will require new legislation, but if they 

 can be implemented, they will help improve the stream 

 fisheries as well as their recreational and aesthetic values. 



5-30 



