Supreme Court Rules Efficient Use of Water Does Not Violate Downstream Users' Rights

摘要

The U.S. Supreme Court decided May 2 that Wyoming did not violate a water-sharing compact with Montana and North Dakota by reducing the runoff and seepage of water from farm fields into the Yellowstone River and tributaries (Montana v. Wyoming, U.S., No. 137, Original, 5/2/11). In a case of original jurisdiction, Montana had gone directly to the Supreme Court to object that the switch to sprinkler irrigation from flood irrigation increased the efficiency of farms in Wyoming at the expense of downstream water users, because sprinkler systems reduced the amount of water that returned to the river after irrigation. That violated the allocations of the 1951 Yellowstone River Compact, Montana argued.