Dividing the Waters

Upcoming Conferences

2025 CONFERENCE Water Law at the Quarter Century

Missoula, Montana – September 24-27, 2025

Since Y2K, western water conflicts – and the law underlying those conflicts – have evolved and expanded. Water infrastructure developed in the 20^th Century to address then-current water management issues. It served its purpose then, but raised new issues as it aged and the world changed in the 21^st Century. In the first quarter of this century, urban growth required more water, often drawing on water traditionally used by agriculture. Climate change has led to extreme drought in much of the West and, in some cases, extreme floods. Courts see more complex water cases on their dockets. Several states created water judge systems of various designs, which requires education for judges on water law and science. That’s where the 2025 Dividing the Waters Conference comes in.

At this year’s Water Law at the Quarter Century conference, the National Judicial College’s Dividing the Waters Program will explore the developments and the stressors on long-standing water law principles. Panel discussions will address the Prior Appropriation Doctrine (“first in time, first in right”), instream flow requirements, the Winters Doctrine for tribal water rights, and federal reserved rights generally. The conference also includes:

Flathead Lake Field Day. Conferees will spend a day in the field visiting the Flathead Lake region, including the Flathead Lake Biological Station and the Flathead River dam managed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
Pre-Conference Workshop on Parties & Science. Optional small-group session where conferees will share and learn best practices for general stream adjudications. They will discuss how best to manage thousands of water-right claimants and adjudicate conflicts over water science.
Milltown Dam Field Visit. Interested conferees who arrive early will go just upstream to the Milltown Dam Superfund site, where federal and state authorities have remediated century-old mining contamination.

For more information, please visit the course page.

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