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November 17, 2025

Montana sued over law that allows water wells for low-density, rural subdivisions without permits

  • A 1973 law allows just about anyone to pump up to 10 acre-feet of groundwater per year without showing whether nearby users will be affected.
    • By AMANDA EGGERT
    Montana Free Press

    A broad coalition is suing the state of Montana over its interpretation of a decades-old law that housing developers have long relied on to supply water to low-density residential subdivisions outside public water supplies.

    At the center of the conflict are “exempt wells,” which earned that moniker shortly after Montana legislators passed a law in 1973 allowing just about anyone to drill a well and pump up to 10 acre-feet of groundwater from it per year without first demonstrating that nearby water users won't see a decrease in their water supplies. An acre-foot of water is enough to serve two to three households for a year.


     
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