water

A judge dismisses a challenge to the 2024 initiative that enshrined abortion access in Montana’s Constitution; The BLM revokes bison grazing permits for American Prairie reserve; USDA grants an extension for rural water system program.

More than six square miles of an aquifer under Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front has been removed from federal protections and slated for wastewater. The change comes despite overwhelming opposition from the local community.

Montanans are being told to eat less fish in some areas of the state. A new report from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality says high levels of PFAS are present in fish in the Fort Peck Reservoir, the East Gallatin River, the Missouri and the Clark Fork, among other locations.

Water watchdog groups and tribes are suing federal environmental regulators. The suit challenges the federal approval of Montana’s new water quality standards.

According to a recent report issued by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Montana’s snowpack sits below average for this time of year.

For nearly three decades a federally funded project has worked to deliver clean water to thousands in northeastern Montana. A proposed policy would extend that work.

Hydrologists are calling Montana's first snowpack report of the year “a tale of two snowpacks.” There's plenty of snowpack in the high mountain ranges, but lower elevation areas are below average.

A Montana district court ruled in favor of an environmental group that challenged the state's approval of new septic systems in the Gallatin Valley. The group argued that the state failed to assess cumulative impacts from the septic systems and how they may harm the river.

Western Montana’s drought conditions have improved significantly since late summer. North-central Montana’s drought status is changing too, but for the worse.

The town of Belt has worked with the state for decades to tackle issues left by the Anaconda Coal Mine. A new multimillion-dollar water treatment facility will finally fix that. The plant will clean the acid drainage before discharging it back into the creek.