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Judge Voids Flathead Valley Bottling Plant's Water Permit
New ruling says Montana erred by allowing Creston water bottling facility to produce a billion bottles of water per year
A Montana district judge has again overturned a state agency’s permit for a Creston water-bottling plant to produce up to a billion bottles of water a year along the banks of the Flathead River, writing in a Sept. 30 order that the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) erred when it granted the bitterly contested water right a half-decade ago.
It’s the latest turn in a tortuous administrative legal odyssey that began in 2015, when Montana Artesian Water Co. (MAWC) and its founder, Creston landowner Lew Weaver, asked for and received a permit from the DNRC allowing the company to produce up to 140,000 water bottles per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In technical terms, the water right authorized Weaver’s company to receive 710 acre feet of water annually, equaling roughly 1.2 billion 20-ounce water bottles.
The bottling operation drummed up considerable attention, fueling concerns among neighbors and residents across the valley and leading to the formation of Water for Flathead’s Future, a group organized to fight the bottling plant while raising objections on multiple legal fronts, including filing two complaints in an effort to prevent the facility from beginning production.
Those objections are at the center of a 27-page order by Lewis and Clark County District Judge Kathy Seeley, which hands a major victory to two nonprofit groups, Water for Flathead’s Future and the Flathead Lakers, as well as 10 neighboring landowners to MAWC. The order signals the second time Judge Seeley has invalidated DNRC’s permit, with the Montana Supreme Court reversing her original order and remanding it for further action.
It’s the latest turn in a tortuous administrative legal odyssey that began in 2015, when Montana Artesian Water Co. (MAWC) and its founder, Creston landowner Lew Weaver, asked for and received a permit from the DNRC allowing the company to produce up to 140,000 water bottles per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In technical terms, the water right authorized Weaver’s company to receive 710 acre feet of water annually, equaling roughly 1.2 billion 20-ounce water bottles.
The bottling operation drummed up considerable attention, fueling concerns among neighbors and residents across the valley and leading to the formation of Water for Flathead’s Future, a group organized to fight the bottling plant while raising objections on multiple legal fronts, including filing two complaints in an effort to prevent the facility from beginning production.
Those objections are at the center of a 27-page order by Lewis and Clark County District Judge Kathy Seeley, which hands a major victory to two nonprofit groups, Water for Flathead’s Future and the Flathead Lakers, as well as 10 neighboring landowners to MAWC. The order signals the second time Judge Seeley has invalidated DNRC’s permit, with the Montana Supreme Court reversing her original order and remanding it for further action.
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/10/05/judge-voids-flathead-valley-bottling-plants-water-permit/
