First water rights cut on Gallatin River

By WALT WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer

Some water rights holders along the Gallatin River were told Monday to stop taking water from the river, which was flowing at about half its normal capacity for this time of year.

West Gallatin Water Commissioner George Alberda, who started his duties a week ago, ordered Monday that only water rights dating from 1890 and earlier could continue to be used. Also, all ponds with permit dates younger than 1890 should be shut off.

Park County Clerk of District Court June Little said Monday that a commissioner also was appointed on the Willow Creek drainage. Little said she expects more commissioners to be appointed by this time next week.

Water commissioners are agents of the court who decide which irrigator has the right to use limited water. By law, their decisions are tied to water-flow levels in the basins they oversee. Commissioners are appointed when at least three water rights holders petition the court to do so.

The orders apply to surface water-rights holders, most of whom are farmers who use river water to irrigate their fields. According to the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, there are more than 5,000 water rights in the Gallatin River basin.

Most of those are cut off at some point every summer, but this year the cuts in the Gallatin basin are coming a few weeks early due to dry conditions.

“If the river continues to drop the way it has been, I would say later this week, there probably would be more,” Alberda said Monday.

The Gallatin River was flowing at 879 cubic feet per second near Gallatin Gateway as of Monday, according the U.S. Geological Survey. The median flow for early July is 1,880 cfs.

The Gallatin and many other area streams are running low because of an early snowmelt in the mountains and a recent stretch of hot weather with little to no rain.

Several times over the past week, daily high temperatures have reached into the 90s, as recorded at Gallatin Field airport. On Thursday, the recorded high of 100 broke a 30-year-old record. National Weather Service forecasters are predicting more 90-degree days in the coming week.

Because of the dry conditions in the valley, Alberda started his duties as water commissioner a couple weeks earlier than last year. Last week, he asked water rights holders to use as little water as possible to avoid the cuts as long as possible.

The next round of cuts would apply to 1890 water rights and, after that, water rights dating from the years 1887, 1888 and 1889.

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