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County signs one-year flow-release agreement for Silver Lake with NRDP; proceeds to enterprise fund
Summary
Butte-Silver Bow authorized a one-year flow-release agreement with the Natural Resource Damage Program (NRDP) to release Silver Lake water for stream augmentation and other uses when available; the contract pays per-release-day rates and revenues go to the Silver Lake enterprise fund, county staff said.
Butte-Silver Bow commissioners concurred June 18 with a staff request to authorize a flow-release agreement with Montana's Natural Resource Damage Program (NRDP) to provide Silver Lake surface water for stream augmentation and other eligible purposes when water is available.
Public-works director Mark Neri explained the contract is a one-year agreement and will be exercised only when Silver Lake has water available without reducing local water service. Director Neri and Finance Director Hausler told commissioners the contract contains a per-day payment structure (document language cited $8,000 for the first release day in a calendar month and $5,850 for each additional release day) and that any contract proceeds will be recorded in the Silver Lake enterprise fund.
Commissioners and staff emphasized operational safeguards: county staff said releases will not impair potable or industrial supply demands and that the county will not commit to long-term exports until the water system upgrades and monitoring are complete. Finance staff confirmed the receipts will flow into the county's enterprise accounting for Silver Lake operations, not into the general fund. The council concurred and placed the communication on file by unanimous vote.
The agreement is intended to allow limited stream-augmentation support in drought or ecological-need situations while protecting local system reliability; the county will negotiate year-to-year as system improvements continue.
