| Date: |
4/24/2008 |
| Title: |
MWWDA Position Statement on Montana’s Groundwater |
| Summary: |
A large segment of Montana’s economy is dependent on agriculture, new home construction and domestic water wells. In Western Montana this economy requires ground water to survive. Montana has an abundance of ground water and the present day use is minuscule!! At present ground water use in Montana is less than 2% of surface use. |
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| Date: |
3/6/2007 |
| Title: |
Montana's Ground Water, Part 1: A Vast Potential Resource |
| Summary: |
The good news is that Montana has an abundance of ground water. According to the USGS Montana residents use 188 million gallons of ground water per day - which is less than 2% of the total water usage. These 188 million gallons per day are so small that Giant Springs in Great Falls, one of Montana's hundreds of springs, leaks over 200 million gallons of water per day. |
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| Date: |
3/20/2007 |
| Title: |
Montana's Ground Water, Part 2: Ground Water Not Connected to Surface Water |
| Summary: |
As stated in Part 1, there is an abundance of unused ground water in Montana. A large portion of Montana's ground water resources are found in confined or semi-confined aquifers that are not directly connected to surface water! |
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| Date: |
3/20/2007 |
| Title: |
Montana's Ground Water, Part 3: Ground Water is Vital to Montana's Economy |
| Summary: |
Montana must sensibly manage our natural resources in order to maintain economic growth in this state. Groundwater development has always been the key to our economic sustainability. The two mainstays of Montana's economy are the traditional agriculture accompanied with the surge of modern home building. Without groundwater these driving forces will quickly diminish or die.
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| Date: |
2/21/2008 |
| Title: |
Gallatin Valley Resources Evaluation |
| Summary: |
A detailed hydrologic evaluation of the Gallatin Valley does not support the rationale supplied by DNRC for the proposed legislation. There is simply no underlying data confirming the DNRC Hypothesis off “cumulative impacts” from exempt wells. Nearly all the changes in stream flow that have been observed in the Gallatin Valley over the last decade have nothing to do with exempt wells, or other
wells, but are simply due to drought. Based upon the above analysis, the Hypothesis set forth by DNRC is inaccurate. It also calls into question the need for augmentation and exempt well legislation proposed by DNRC. The findings defined herein are applicable to many of, if not most of, the other alluvial valleys in western Montana. A far more rational approach for determining if control measures are really necessary would be to evaluate watersheds in detail on a
regional or sub-regional scale to determine the net significance or lack of significance of wells. That significance should also be defined by completing both the addition and subtraction of water to and from an area before any conclusion is drawn. |
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