part 1 originally posted 8/08
A recent post regarding Billings water rights came up on Cataract City. I understand that it was written by CCE folks, and originally posted on the CCE website site, but the blog is easier to link to, and it is a reprint of the same post.
"Billings is planning on defending 400,000 acre-ft per year of water rights. The City of Great Falls is embarrassed to defend an 1889 53,000 acre-ft/yr water right. Billings is defending a water right over seven times as large as Great Falls, but its population is only twice as large."
I cannot find anything, on the Billings City site, or any news article, that discusses this "defense" of the Historic Billings water rights.
The first thing to note is there isn't actually a whole lot you can do to defend a municipal water right. You basically have to prove historic beneficial use of that amount of water. I believe it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for Billings to support it's currently claimed rights.
Billings has three major municipal water rights claims, all out of the Yellowstone River, and all with pretty good priority dates. There is a lot of water being claimed there, and all three of these rights are being challenged by multiple entitys, entitys with very legitimate claims.
43Q-W-208213-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME
(Claim: 3000 cfs, 2,172,000 volume)
43Q-W-208214-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, VOLUME, PLACE OF USE
(Claim: 2000 cfs, 1,448,000 volume)
43Q-W-208215-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: VOLUME, FLOW RATE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, PRIORITY DATE, VOLUME
(Claim: 648 cfs, 469,152 volume)
As you can see, DNRC has some work to do. The claims by Crow Tribe and BIA are fairly serious, and on the last water right, it appears DNRC will be examing the priority date. This is actually the earliest Billings right, with a volume of 648 cfs, a volume of 469,152 a/f and a priority date of 6/2/1885. (one acre foot is equal to 43,560 cubic feet)
This is in fact, the smallest claimed municipal right for Billings. Crow Tribe has a priority date of 1868, and some pretty bad-ass documents to defend its claims. They are challenging flow rate and volume on each of these Billings rights, and if the amounts claimed by Billings are correct, they are so outragously high, I really see no way the City can prove historic, beneficial use at these levels for any of these municipal rights, let alone all three.
If I am reading these right, Billings is claiming a total volume of 4,089,152 a/f and flow of 5,648 cfs total for just these three rights. For comparison purposes, the Yellowstone River USGS gauge at Billings MT is discharging about 9,000 cfs right now.
These amounts are outragous. Using Billings claims to rationalize that Great Falls should claim excessive water use strikes me as petty, and counter productive. We don't get to decide how much water we want, we must prove how much water we justifiably need.
"Billings is planning on defending 400,000 acre-ft per year of water rights. The City of Great Falls is embarrassed to defend an 1889 53,000 acre-ft/yr water right. Billings is defending a water right over seven times as large as Great Falls, but its population is only twice as large."
I cannot find anything, on the Billings City site, or any news article, that discusses this "defense" of the Historic Billings water rights.
The first thing to note is there isn't actually a whole lot you can do to defend a municipal water right. You basically have to prove historic beneficial use of that amount of water. I believe it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for Billings to support it's currently claimed rights.
Billings has three major municipal water rights claims, all out of the Yellowstone River, and all with pretty good priority dates. There is a lot of water being claimed there, and all three of these rights are being challenged by multiple entitys, entitys with very legitimate claims.
43Q-W-208213-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME
(Claim: 3000 cfs, 2,172,000 volume)
43Q-W-208214-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, VOLUME, PLACE OF USE
(Claim: 2000 cfs, 1,448,000 volume)
43Q-W-208215-00
OWNER: SOURCE:
CITY OF BILLINGS: YELLOWSTONE RIVER
OBJECTOR: NATURE OF OBJECTION:
CROW TRIBE OF INDIANS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE, ABANDONMENT, NON-PERFECTION
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: VOLUME, FLOW RATE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: PRIORITY DATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, VOLUME, FLOW RATE
DNRC EXAMINATION REPORT ISSUES: FLOW RATE, PLACE OF USE, MAXIMUM ACRES, PRIORITY DATE, VOLUME
(Claim: 648 cfs, 469,152 volume)
As you can see, DNRC has some work to do. The claims by Crow Tribe and BIA are fairly serious, and on the last water right, it appears DNRC will be examing the priority date. This is actually the earliest Billings right, with a volume of 648 cfs, a volume of 469,152 a/f and a priority date of 6/2/1885. (one acre foot is equal to 43,560 cubic feet)
This is in fact, the smallest claimed municipal right for Billings. Crow Tribe has a priority date of 1868, and some pretty bad-ass documents to defend its claims. They are challenging flow rate and volume on each of these Billings rights, and if the amounts claimed by Billings are correct, they are so outragously high, I really see no way the City can prove historic, beneficial use at these levels for any of these municipal rights, let alone all three.
If I am reading these right, Billings is claiming a total volume of 4,089,152 a/f and flow of 5,648 cfs total for just these three rights. For comparison purposes, the Yellowstone River USGS gauge at Billings MT is discharging about 9,000 cfs right now.
These amounts are outragous. Using Billings claims to rationalize that Great Falls should claim excessive water use strikes me as petty, and counter productive. We don't get to decide how much water we want, we must prove how much water we justifiably need.
posted by a-fire-fly at 10:34 AM
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