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r-- 4~ . ,..: '-- 182 oJ, ~!~",nU'~, ...... .---- \ flow water available to downstream users.lS2 In addition, the Depart- ment of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), traditionally dominated by agricultural interests, must approve the leases.lSS Moreover, farmers' opposition to modifying the system created heated negotiations resulting in compromises that unwittingly erected additional barriers to water leasing. 1M The agricultura110bby success- fully limited the scope of the program to five streams over a four-year period.'" These limitations created a monopoly rent situation that artificially drove up prices.'3tl Two years into the pilot program, no lease had been negotiated, with few prospects for future lease agree- ments.'.7 While Montana has made an initial step in the direction of establishing water markets, its attempt is too tentative and ultimately stumbles over the traditional barriers to water markets. The experiences of Oregon and Montana offer two important lessons. First, agricultural communities do not perceive water markets to be in their best interest. Consequently, external legal, political, or economic pressure is needed to overcome these perceptions to actuate water refonn,'38 One successful example of water marketing, involv- ing a recent transfer of 100,000 acre-feet of water from the Imperial Irrigation District (lID) to the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Los Angeles, would never have occurred without an outside threat from the California State Water Resources Control Board to transfer water ~ ~ , :: ~ I' " . ~; '" MONT. CODE ANN. t 85-2-436(2Xd). n. rd. t 85.2-436(2)(b); ... Morri. .upra nol<> 99, at 280-81. The DNRC has adopl<>d six criteria that must be satisfied before a water lease will be approved: These include: background information on the location and length of each stream. the volume of water that would be leased. and a general description of current water use. The selected stream must also support a high value fishery and be subject to regular low flows that significantly harm that fishery. The water lease must be the only viable alternative available to maintain these stream flows in the near term. Id- 114 Morris. .upra note 99, at 288. 1115 In 1991 Montana'. water leasing law was amended to authorize DFWP to seek approval to lease water in up to 10 streams. 1M One potentialleuor demanded $200,000 per year for his water rights, for which he would have suffered a net agricultural loss of approximately $18,000. The leasing opponents wanted to establish $200,000 as a baseline for leases under a future free market system. Morris, supra nol<> 99, at 281-85, '" rd. at 287-88. 1. See Gottlieb & Wiley, supra note 6, at 33 (-A few general principles underlie the situation where marketing has been considered. In each of the episodes described, outside political or economic pressures created the impetus for discussion.-).