Montana Title 85. Water Use § 85-7-103. Report by department of natural resources and conservation required

(1) Before any such district shall be established, there shall be presented to the district court, at the hearing on the petition for such establishment, a written report or opinion from the department of natural resources and conservation on the engineering features involved and the possibilities of water supplies, accompanied by a copy of the decree of the district court showing the adjudicated water rights in said streams from which said waters are to be diverted. For this purpose, a copy of the petition provided for in 85-7-104 and of all maps and other papers filed with the same shall be filed with the department at the time the original petition is filed with the clerk of the district court. The expense, if any, incurred by the department in the investigation and report upon the proposed district shall be certified with the report and shall be assessed as costs in said hearing, which costs shall be paid by the district in event of its establishment, and in event such petition be denied, then such costs shall be paid by the petitioners. The department shall, within a period of 120 days from the filing of said petition with the department, render its report, as herein provided, to the district court.

(2) Such report or opinion shall not be requested or obtained and shall not be necessary whenever it is proposed to cooperate with the United States under the federal reclamation laws heretofore or hereafter enacted or under any act of congress which shall permit of the performance by the United States of work in this state for the purposes of construction of irrigation works, including drainage works, or for purchase, extension, operation, or maintenance of constructed works or for the assumption, as principal or guarantor, of indebtedness to the United States on account of district laws.