WSP04792 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

, a677 . . 0" ..;4=~~j])~ '<, 1 :.;, .'J './('fi:p), 0..., 1..1)-." . , /~.'..., C"I,:,~Gy) , I')" -I I"" J f",/Ibo . 'Q0/' 11'1 t1/. 1 I Summary of Provisions Contained within the ()III:!l'~1i' ,% Fort Peck-Montana Compact "V4~0 Article I. The introductory Article states the general purposes of the proposed Compact. The first purpose is to determine finally and forever the extent of the federal reserved water rights of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation. Another primary purpose of the Compact is to settle the existing litigation in federal court and in the state water court relating to the Tribes' water rights. Article II. The series of definitions in Article II establishes the meanings of certain important terms used in the Compact. Article III. A. is perhaps the most important paragraph in the Compact because it establishes that the Tribes have the right to divert 1,050,472 acre-feet of water each year or, in the alternative, the amount of water necessary to supply a consumptive use of 525,236 acre-feet of water per year. Of this amount, no more than 950,000 acre-feet per year or, in the alternative, the amount necessary to supply a consumptive use of 475,000 acre-feet per year may be diverted from surface water. The priority date of the Tribal Water Right is established as May 1, 1888. The right is held in trust for the benefit of the Tribes by the United States. Article III. B. establishes who may use the Tribal Water Right. All uses of water by the Tribes, Indians on the Reservation, non-Indian succes6ors-in-interest to'.l;.ndian allot tees on the Reservation, persons within the Fort Peck Irrigation project, and persons authorized by tne Tribes to use water by a transfer or by a water marketing agreement are counted as uses of the Tribal Water Right. The aggregate of all of these uses may not exceed the amount of water the Tribes are authorized to use. Article III. C. The purpose of this paragraph is to establish a consumptive use factor for irrigation use of the Tribal Water Right at 1.8 acre-feet per acre per year for full service irrigation and 0.48 acre-feet per acre per year for partial service irrigation. It also provides the manner in which evaporation from reservoirs will be treated.