County moves to secure beneficial water-use permit for golf course; DNRC asks for local agreements and easements

County staff briefed commissioners on a beneficial water-use permit (Form 600) to allow Fallon County to use recycled water from Lagoon Cell 3 at the Lakeview Country Club golf course.

Shannon, the county staff member leading the application, said the DNRC pre-application review identified three missing items needed to complete the submission: a copy of the original agreement between the city and county for use of Cell 3 water; easement documents for the transmission line from Cell 3 to the golf course; and a copy of the lease under which the city leases the golf-course property to the county. Shannon recommended having county counsel Darcy review the affidavit and certification language in the application before final submittal because the form includes legal acknowledgements.

Shannon also reported ongoing work on nutrient-management deviation requests and coordination with DEQ and a reviewer in Helena. The staff said the recent technical review slightly lowered the county’s modeled available irrigation capacity (from roughly 52 million gallons to about 49 million gallons under a different rainfall computation), but that the golf course should still be irrigable in dry years; Shannon said the plan will be resubmitted after DEQ comments are addressed and the nutrient-management plan is updated.

Commissioners asked questions about the hydrology/stability studies, pH monitoring results, and timing; staff said once the missing documents are gathered they will bring a hard-copy submittal for signature and suggested Darcy review the documents to confirm legal implications.

No formal vote was required; commissioners directed staff to collect the required documents and to follow up with the DNRC and county counsel.