High court hears state water fight

Attorneys from Montana and Wyoming squared off before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in a cross-border dispute over how they share the region’s scarce water supplies. Montana has accused its southern neighbor of taking too much water from the Tongue and Powder rivers, breaking a 1950 agreement between the states. But justices Monday voiced skepticism when Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock said new irrigation practices had put Wyoming in violation of the agreement. “The beneficial use is that use by which the water supply is depleted. Well, the use here is irrigation,” Chief Justice John Roberts said as Bullock was presenting his argument. “It doesn’t say irrigation up to the technological development in 1950. ... And if they get better at it so they use more (water), well, that’s too bad for you.” The issue before the court centered on a claim that Wyoming has been consuming more water due to irrigation advances such as center-pivot sprinklers. Those sprinklers allow farmers to use water more efficiently, by increasing the amount that goes directly to their crops. But they also mean less surplus water comes off of fields — decreasing the “return flow” into rivers that flow downstream to Montana. Roberts noted that Western water laws lean toward “first come, first serve” — which gives priority to those who hold the earliest water claim. However, several justices said Monday they didn’t immediately see an equitable solution to the dispute. The court will rule later this year...more