Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 85. WATER USE

CHAPTER 7. IRRIGATION DISTRICTS

Part 4. Subdistricts

Authority To Create Subdistricts -- Petition -- Requirements

85-7-401. Authority to create subdistricts -- petition -- requirements. (1) The board of commissioners of an irrigation district created and organized under Title 85, chapter 7, parts 1 and 15, may establish one or more subdistricts within the irrigation district to provide for and finance the cost of irrigation works, including gravity irrigation systems, gravity measure systems, or sprinkling systems, that would irrigate lands in the subdistrict but not other lands in the district. A subdistrict may be established only upon a petition signed by at least 60%, in number and acreage, of the holders of title or evidence of title to lands to be included within the subdistrict. The petition must be addressed to and filed with the board of commissioners and be accompanied by a map or plat of the proposed subdistrict.

(2) The petition must state:

(a) the name suggested for the proposed subdistrict;

(b) a general description of the land to be included in the proposed subdistrict;

(c) the name of each holder of title or evidence of title to the lands in the proposed subdistrict, as determined according to 85-7-101 and 85-7-102 and, if a holder is a nonresident of the county or counties in which the proposed district lies, the post-office address of the nonresident owner, if known;

(d) the general water source from which the land in the proposed subdistrict will be irrigated and the general character of the works, water rights, canals, and other property proposed to be acquired or constructed for irrigation purposes in or for the benefit of the proposed subdistrict; and

(e) a request that the land within the proposed subdistrict be made a subdistrict according to the provisions of 85-7-401 through 85-7-404.

History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 439, L. 1989.