Agricultural groups and environmental groups combined to file a lawsuit against the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation alleging the state’s exempt well laws allow unregulated groundwater development outside the state’s permitting system.

According to the DNRC , small groundwater developments that use 35 gallons per minute or less and do not exceed 10 acre-feet per year, are known as “exempt wells.”

There may be as many as 141,000 exempt wells authorized between 1973 and 2023, the lawsuit says.

“By authorizing unregulated groundwater development, the Exempt Well Law undermines these constitutional protections afforded to senior water right appropriators and threatens the integrity of Montana’s water resources,” the lawsuit says.

The coalition bringing t

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