85-2-902. Findings and purpose. (1) The legislature finds that:

(a) Montana's citizens depend on ground water for a variety of uses, including domestic, agricultural, industrial, irrigation, mining, municipal, power, and recreation, and for maintenance of ecosystems and surface water supplies;

(b) ground water supplies and quality are threatened by a variety of contaminant sources;

(c) there is insufficient information characterizing the volume, quality, and flow patterns of the state's ground water;

(d) ground water information deficiencies are hampering the efforts of citizens and units of government to properly manage, protect, and develop ground water;

(e) government policies and programs should focus on preventing ground water contamination and supply depletion, but in order for preventive policies and programs to be effective, better ground water information is required; and

(f) there is a need for better coordination among those numerous units of state, federal, and local government with responsibility for ground water management, protection, and development.

(2) The purposes of this part are:

(a) to improve the quality of ground water management, protection, and development decisions within the public and private sectors by establishing a program to systematically assess and monitor the state's ground water and to disseminate the information to interested persons; and

(b) to improve coordination of ground water management, protection, development, and research functions among units of state, federal, and local government by establishing a ground water assessment steering committee.