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Western States Water Council Full Council Minutes Boise, Idaho April 22, 2005 . chance. The bill also deals with environmental flows, both in stream and for bays and estuaries, which could be a major allocation of water. We are developing a methodology for determining the indirectly effects of ground water pumping on stream flows. However, 90% of all ground water is under the control of 90 ground water districts. There are some provisions of the bill that would change ground water management. Wyoming Pat Tyrrell observed that there are three bills in their legislature that are supported by the State Engineer. One would increase penalties up to $1 ,250/day and recodify the statutes related to possession of stolen water for small reservoirs. It is Senate file 28 on the legislature's official website. House Bill 1 wciuld remove roadblocks to online electronic applications. Another would remove a requirement that the State Engineer maintain a water library. Coalbed methane well applications keep coming. Our permit backlog has grown to 2,700 permits for a 2-3 year delay. We have a supplemental budget request approved for $400,000 for three more positions, to contract for dam inspections, and for overtime for staff (which has required with mandatory overtime of up to 50 hours/week). We are designing a Weston IT system to be completed by 2007 or 2008 at an initial cost of $1.4 million. With respect to the drought, the snow didn't get to Wyoming, but hit Utah and south . central Colorado, New Mexico, etc. "The Bear River is the worst in Utah, but the best snow pack in Wyoming!" We are looking at shortages with Nebraska on the Platte River and with Montana on the Tongue River. Montana Jack Stults said that on Wednesday Governor Schweitzer signed HB 22 with fees to accelerate their statewide adjudic,ation for 225,000 claims (required and filed since 1982). It has been funded from General Fund appropriations, but would have taken another 37 years or more to complete. It is now estimated they will finish in 10 years with another 49FTEs. The fee is $lO/year for 10 years on all water rights, and will raise some $31 million to go into a special account. There are benchmarks and two-year progress reports. It is an aggressive schedule, but we're comfortable. The fee will be billed every two years, by our Department of Revenue. We do have an ownership data base that is maintained, and we are very excited. The fee is capped off at $200/year/owner. There is a differing fee structure, and some flat fees. It will cost about $86,000 for Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks' instreamflows, but they support it. The bill passed our Appropriations Committee unanimously and the House 98-1. We have a serious problem in management without adjudicated water rights. Montana also has international boundary issues with Canada involving the St. Mary's River and Milk River. There is a 1906 interbasin transfer to the Milk, and a 1909 treaty. An International Joint Commission (IJC) order in 1921 implements the Boundary Waters Treaty. Montana complained that the operating rule didn't match the Treaty in the 1930s. Montana claimed it wasn't getting its share of the water. The IJC split then, but now the issue has come up again. We believe Canada gets a 70-30% 14 .