Farm406

25 farm406 set the stage for statewide adjudication was the McCarran amendment by the US Congress in 1952, authorizing state courts to hear water disputes involving federal entities. en aer two critical pieces of legislation at the state level— the new Constitution in 1972 and the Water Use Act of 1973, Montana, in earnest, began to clean up the water rights conundrum. e 1972 Constitution stated that the state of Montana owned the water (atmospheric, ground, and surface water) in the state on behalf of all state citizens. Furthermore, through the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), the state had the right to establish a centralized water rights system over the previous fragmented system and regulate all statewide water rights. Seing out to execute the Water Use Act (the work of gathering information and adjudicating it), DNRC realized that the process of examining claims was considerable. Overwhelming problems in many water basins were identified and the district courts became overtaxed while at the same time inexperienced in water rights decrees. Not one water right was adjudicated aer five years of DNRC effort. e legislature knew that something must be done. e Water Court was created by the 1979 legislature to exercise limited and exclusive jurisdiction of existing water rights. e court, located in Bozeman, is made up of the Chief Water Judge and Associate Water Judge, each appointed by the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, and water masters and other staff, appointed by the Chief Water Judge. Montana's water right adjudication process utilized by the Water Court seeks to define, and finally, decree all claimed existing rights as they were used historically, prior to July 1, 1973. When all of the water rights in the statewide water basins have been adjudicated, and Final Decrees have been published, the job of the water court will be finished. It has been gathering claims—until July 1, 1996; hearing objections to water rights claims; and writing Interim (sometimes called Temporary Preliminary), Preliminary, and Final Decrees for the last four decades during three water judges' tenure. e water court issued the first Final Decree for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, covering 12 water basins, on July 12, 2021. is took four years between Preliminary and Final Decrees. Another Final Decree for Big Sandy Creek, Basin 40H, was filed in October 2021. e water court staff uses consistent criteria to determine water rights. Basic Montana Water Law specifies that beneficial use and priority of right continue to be the two key aributes of water rights. Each right carries a priority date based on first use, called "first in time is first in right." A water right is defined not as ownership of the water itself but the right to use it.

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