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Yellowstone Basin Water Planning History ………………………..……………………………………..…….… 14 Yellowstone Basin Planning Methodology ………………………..…………………………………….…….…

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Yellowstone Basin Water Planning History ………………………..……………………………………..…….… 14 Yellowstone Basin Planning Methodology ………………………..…………………………………….…….… Contents I. Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………….………............... 1 Basin Advisory Councils (BACS) and the Montana Water Supply Initiative (MWSI) ............... 1 The Yellowstone River Basin Advisory Council 2013-2015 .……………………………………………..... 2 Integrated Water Quality and Quantity Management .……………………………………..………………. 5 State Water-User Profile …………………………………………………………………………………………...……... 10 II. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…………. 12 Statutory Authority for Water Planning …………………………………………………..……………….…….… 12 History of Water Planning in MT …………………………………………………………………………….…..….… 12 Yellowstone Basin Water Planning History ………………………..……………………………………..…….… 14 Yellowstone Basin Planning Methodology ………………………..…………………………………….…….….. 16 Water Resource Project and Program Funding …………………………………………………………….…… 28 III. Yellowstone River Basin Profile…………………………………………………………………………………………..… 30 Current Population ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 30 Population Trends …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31 Land Use and Ownership …….……………………………………………………………………………………………. 34 Key Economic and Water Use Sectors ……………………………………………………………………….….…… 36 Environmental Concerns ……………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 39 State Water-User Profile …………………………………………………………………………………………….…….. 42 IV. Water Resources in the Yellowstone Basin ………………………………………………………………………….. 43 Physiography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….……… 43 Geology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…… 44 Hydrography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…… 46 Climate ……………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….….… 50 Snowpack and Variation in Water Supply ………………………………………………………………………….. 54 Drought and Climate Variation ………………………………………………………….………………………….….. 58 Surface Water Resources of the Yellowstone River Basin ……………………………………………..….. 66 Groundwater Resources of the Yellowstone Basin ………………………………………………………….… 75 Water Quality in the Yellowstone River Basin …………………………………………………………………... 84 V. Water Use in the Yellowstone Basin …………………………………………………………………………………..… 94 Historical Water Use in the Yellowstone Basin ……………………………………………………………..…… 94 Inventory of Consumptive Water Use in the Yellowstone Basin ………………………………………... 95 Methodology, Scope and Purpose of Current Water Use Estimates ………………………………..… 96 Summary of Water Withdrawals and Consumptive Use in the Entire Yellowstone Basin (including Wyoming) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 103 Inventory of Non-Consumptive Water Use in the Yellowstone River Basin ……………………….. 106 Lakes and Reservoirs ………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 107 VI. Water Administration ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 112 YELLOWSTONE RIVER BASIN WATER PLAN—2014 i Institutional and Legal Framework for Water Use in Montana ………………………………………….. 112 Yellowstone Water Reservations ………………………………………………………………………………………. 120 Federal and Tribal Reserved Water in the Yellowstone Basin ……………………………………………. 124 Yellowstone Basin Closures ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 131 Montana Water Quality Law ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 133 VII. Potential Future Demands for Water in the Yellowstone River Basin …………………………………… 135 Results of Past Efforts to Estimate Future Demand …………………………………………………………… 135 Overview of Planning Scenarios ………………………………………………………………………………………… 136 Agricultural Demand Projections ………………………………………………………………………………………. 136 Municipal and Domestic Demand Projections …………………………………………………………………… 138 Industrial Demand Projections ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 142 Instream Flow Demand Projections …………………………………………………………………………………… 142 Analysis of Consumptive Irrigation, Water-Demand Scenarios ………………………………………….. 143 Results of Scenario Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 145 Yellowstone River Basin: Potential Effects of Climate Change on Future Water Supplies And Demand ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……… 146 VIII. Options for Meeting New Water Demands ………………………………………………………………………….. 151 Basins with Unallocated Water …………………………………………………………………………………………. 151 Changes in Use – Reallocation of Water to New Uses ……………………………………………………….. 154 Basins with Hydrology that Could Potentially Support New Storage …………………………………. 157 Feasibility and Constraints on Natural Storage & Retention ……………………………………………… 158 IX. Findings and Recommendations ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 160 Drought Readiness ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 160 Integrated Water Quality and Quantity Management ………………………………………………………. 161 Water Administration and Beneficial Use …………………………………………………………………………. 162 Watershed Planning ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 163 Groundwater/Surface Water Nexus ………………………………………………………………………………….. 164 Instream Flow Maintenance ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 164 Water Storage …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 165 Funding …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 166 X. Glossary ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 167 XI. Photo Credits ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 172 XII. References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 173 XIII. List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 180 XIV. List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 183 YELLOWSTONE RIVER BASIN WATER PLAN—2014 ii I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY It is with the recognition of our dependence on clean, plentiful supplies of water that the Yellowstone Basin Plan is submitted. Its contents document a year-long examination by the Yellowstone Basin Advisory Council. Its purpose is to document the status of the Yellowstone’s water resources, and propose a path forward in terms of how DNRC and other entities manage and protect Yellowstone water for the benefit of current and future generations. The recommendations within this document reflect the collective understanding and intent of a broad range of water users that share a common concern - how do we ensure water availability now and in the future? As is evidenced by the degree of participation in the 2015 Montana Water Supply Initiative (MWSI), water users in the Yellowstone River basin are keenly aware of the link between water and their quality of life. Recent extended dry spells, such as the below average years of the 2000’s, combined with the scientific and associated media attention on the potential effects of climate change, have heightened public interest in the management of the state’s water. And whether you subscribe to climate change theory or not, the Yellowstone hydrologic record is replete with extended severe droughts (See Section IV-Water Resources). With the potential for increasing demands and supply variability, the time is ripe to put Montana on a course toward a more sustainable water future, a course that provides the water necessary for existing and potential future uses necessary for economic growth. The guiding legal principles are in place: the Montana Constitution with its provisions for a clean and healthful environment, and the Montana Water Use Act with its provisions for allocation according to the prior appropriation doctrine (“first in time is first in right”). However, like so many complex resource stewardship challenges, a wide range of opinion exists about how to achieve the end goal of increasing water availability. Basin Advisory Councils (BACs) and the Montana Water Supply Initiative (MWSI) In 2013, under direction from the Montana Legislature, the DNRC launched the Montana Water Supply Initiative (MWSI) to work with citizens and community leaders to transform the current Montana State Water Plan into a dynamic guide to help residents and water managers in the state’s major river basins: the Clark Fork and Kootenai, Yellowstone, Upper Missouri, and Lower Missouri. The Legislature directed DNRC to update the State Water Plan (SWP) and submit the results to the 2015 Legislative Session. The 2009 Montana Legislature modified the state’s water planning legislation (MCA 85-1-203) mandating that, “sections of the state water plan must be completed for the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Clark Fork River basins, submitted to the 2015 legislature, and updated at least every 20 years. The state water plan must set out a progressive program for the conservation, development, utilization, and sustainability of the state's water resources and propose the most effective means by which these water resources may be applied for the benefit of the people, with due consideration of alternative uses and combinations of uses.” See: http://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/85/1/85-1-203.htm Although the State Water Plan represents the outgrowth of the regional basin plans, only the State Water Plan has been formally adopted by DNRC. In the event that guidance in one of the basin plans is at odds with the State Water Plan, the direction offered in the State Water Plan takes precedence. Similarly, the policy recommendations offered in the basin plans represent the collective work of the individual BACs and should not be interpreted as carrying the authority of official state policy. YELLOWSTONE RIVER BASIN WATER PLAN—2014 1 PURPOSES OF THE BASIN ADVISORY COUNCILS The Basin Advisory Councils (BACs) are to: A. Provide input and recommendations to DNRC as required by 85-1-203(3); B. Serve as advisors to DNRC and provide an avenue of communication and discourse between the various water interests within the basin; C. Evaluate strategies, studies, and proposed actions for improving the understanding management and conservation of water resources in
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