Montana Local Water Quality Districts
The information contained herein was compiled by Montana DEQ and each of
the Montana local water quality districts in 1994 and updated as
significant changes occur.
Abstract
The Montana Local Water Quality District Act authorizes counties to
establish districts to protect, preserve, and improve the quality of
surface water and groundwater. Funding comes from an annual fee on all
property using water or producing waste. Businesses using larger volumes
are assessed a higher fee which cannot exceed 50 times the residential
fee. Montana's four districts each have unique water quality programs
yet work cooperatively with the Department of Environmental Quality in
administering the Montana Water Quality Act. The Lewis & Clark County
Water Quality Protection District continues to evaluate trends in
nitrate concentrations in the Helena Valley Aquifer. Results suggest
that higher nitrate concentrations coincide with higher septic system
density. Between 1990 and 1994 average nitrate concentrations increased
by 2.5% from an average of 1.25 mg/l to 1.70 mg/l as numbers of septic
systems increased by 26% from 2,475 to 3,081. Project wells were again
sampled in the late 1990s and continue to document these trends. The
Missoula Valley Water Quality District implements an aquifer protection
ordinance that bans the distribution and sale of perchloroethylene,
requires facilities to obtain a pollution prevention permit and use
pollution prevention measures identified in the ordinance, and prohibits
the siting of public water supply wells near contaminant sources or the
siting of potential sources of contamination near public water supply
wells. The Butte/Silver Bow Water Quality District works mostly on
stormwater issues. The Gallatin Local Water Quality District has three
primary focus areas that include education, water quality monitoring,
and dissemination of water resource data.
Montana Local Water Quality Districts
The Local Water Quality District Act (Montana Legislative Council 1993)
was passed by the Montana State Legislature in 1991. Since there are
fewer than 100 incorporated municipalities in the state, counties rely
on districts to provide needed services. Traditionally, county districts
may provide roads, television transmission, sewers, etc. Therefore, a
local water quality district (LWQD) was designed just as other county
districts with a board of directors and funding from user fees collected
annually with county taxes and fees. The unique aspect of a LWQD is its
ability to cover a municipality (if the municipality concurs with the
establishment of the district), its ability to enforce the Montana Water
Quality Act in coordination with the Montana Department of Environmental
Quality, and the oversight functions that the Montana Board of
Environmental Review has on the district's water quality program.
The goal of a LWQD is to protect, preserve, and improve the quality of
surface water and groundwater within the district. Lewis and Clark
County set up the first LWQD for the Helena Valley watershed in 1992. A
year later, Missoula County set up a LWQD covering the Missoula Valley
Sole Source Aquifer. Butte/Silver Bow established a LWQD in 1995.
Gallatin County formed a LWQD covering the Gallatin Valley at Bozeman.
As of March 2008, Flathead, Lake, and Ravalli counties have all explore
the possibility of district formation. Table 1 summarizes the coverage,
budgets, and number of employees of the three established districts.
District programs cover an area slightly larger than the State of Rhode
Island.
