This article covers the CSKT (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) proposed water-rights compact that threatens to take away the private ownership of water for roughly 100,000 Montanans.  Should this measure pass, it can set a precedent for the courts throughout the United States by the Federal Government to deprive us of our water rights.

The tale of woe begins with the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 that created the Flathead Indian Reservation.  Article III of the Treaty is the point of contention, as it states the Indian tribes have an established "right of taking fish" in waters not on the reservation.  The article has been selectively interpreted and further manipulated to this end: the tribes must be able to ensure water quality of their fishing sites; therefore, the water rights in 11 counties must fall under the Tribal jurisdiction.

Enter the EPA to set standards of water quality, the Water Compact Commission, a board that is relentlessly pushing the compact on the populace, the Department of the Interior, the bureaucracy that will collect and manage revenue "on behalf" of the tribes, and the DHS, the enforcement arm of compliance.  Should the tribes and the aforementioned players win this fight, all surface water and wells (private wells, mind you) within the boundaries imposed by the Compact will be metered and taxed.