Approval of a proposed water compact between the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes and the federal and state governments might be held up by a state judge’s Dec. 14 ruling.

According to Lake County District Judge C.B. McNeil, the water-use agreement must first be approved by reservation irrigators either through a vote or petition, and the agreement must be submitted to his court before it goes to the irrigators.

Jay Weiner, an attorney with the state Water Rights Compact Commission, confirmed that the commission’s vote on the compact scheduled for Dec. 19 would be delayed.

Weiner said he hopes it won’t take a full 30 days to schedule a hearing on the case brought by the Western Montana Water Users Association because the commission still intends to advance a compact to the 2013 Montana Legislature.

If approved by the legislature, the compact must then be approved by Congress, the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal Council and the Montana Water Court, a process that could take several years.

The water compact has been the subject of ongoing negotiations between the Tribes, the federal government and the Flathead Joint Board of Control, a panel that is supposed to represent the interests of irrigators.

But the Western Montana Water Users Association, representing about 100 member irrigators, filed a complaint claiming the Joint Board of Control had not adequately represented their interests.

The association’s lawsuit cited Montana law requiring that any contract with the federal government affecting irrigators must be approved by three irrigation districts on the reservation.

The complaint also charges that the water-use agreement can’t be approved by the Joint Board of Control alone. It cites another state law requiring that the agreement be submitted to the court and then be approved by a majority of irrigators either through vote or petition.

McNeil agreed with the association’s arguments but gave the Joint Board of Control and the irrigation districts 30 days to respond.