PABLO — Set to dissolve after the state’s next legislative session, the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission is on the brink of completing the Herculean task appointed to it upon its inception in 1979, when it was faced with hammering out water rights agreements with the state’s seven different Indian nations.

After several grueling years of discussion, the negotiating teams representing the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the State of Montana, and the United States government have reached an agreement on a complete draft of a Water Rights Compact. The three sides announced last Thursday that the proposed settlement has been opened to public review and comment.

“All the blanks are filled in now,” CSKT attorney Rhonda Swaney proudly declared.

“I’m glad that we have a proposed agreement to offer to the public for review. It’s been a long haul,” Swaney added.

Jay Weiner, an attorney for the compact commission, said that the agreement is “certainly a good step” in negotiations, though he explained that an independent agreement on management of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP) still needs to be reached.

“That needs to be concluded before this deal works, because that’s a critical component,” said Weiner.

Despite the outstanding matter of on-reservation irrigation, the current version of the compact has been structured so that an agreement between the Tribes, the U.S. and the Flathead Joint Board of Control will seamlessly slide into the existing compact once a consensus is reached.

Weiner reported that the last major crux stalling the Water Rights Compact was “trying to secure the last pieces of protection for existing irrigators outside the (FIIP) project.”

Overall, Weiner said that all sides did their best to balance recognition of the Tribes’ longstanding legal rights with the rights of existing water users. The Tribes were able to exercise their claim to off-reservation water owing to language used in the Hellgate Treaty signed in 1855 — a date that trumps all others in the first-come, first-served arena of water rights.

“The tribes graciously elected not to exercise their legal right to non-irrigation users,” said Weiner, easing widely held concerns of area citizens that the compact could disrupt current domestic, commercial or municipal uses of water. “They will not make call against you. Your life will not be affected,” Weiner reiterated.

“We think that this is a reasonable settlement that recognizes the Tribes’ rights and also protects existing (water) uses. We think that this is a settlement that provides a much better template for the future than going to litigation would, and we’re waiting to hear from the public to hear whether they think we’ve hit that mark,” Weiner said of the agreement intended to settle relevant water disputes for all time.

After being modified via public comment, on Dec. 19 the compact commission will need to agree to formally send the compact to the floor of the state legislature. The pact will also require approval from the United States Congress.

Though reluctant to look too far ahead, Weiner did say, “We expect that (the agreement) should be supported by the legislature, and historically, all of (the Reserve Water Rights Compact Commission’s) settlements have moved through the legislature with very large, bipartisan majorities.”

But before that time, the people will get to have the final say in shaping the document more than eight years in the making.

“Everyone potentially affected by the settlement has the greatest opportunity possible to have their voices heard,” Weiner said, alluding to the massive informational tour regarding the compact scheduled for late November and early December. Public hearings will be held in a dozen towns (some of which lie well beyond the borders of the Flathead Reservation). One such public meeting will be conducted at KwaTaqNuk Resort in Polson on Nov. 28, and another will be held at the Arlee Senior Center on Nov. 29.