Western water laws, created to spur mining and agriculture in the late 1800s, reward waste and penalize water conservation. As a result, completely dry streambeds are legal and commonly seen across the West. Trout Unlimited created the Western Water Project in 1998 to begin the slow process of reforming western water law state by state and restoring and protecting aquatic species. In the last five years, a number of western states, including Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Nevada have passed new laws that make it far easier to leave water in rivers for fish, but nowhere has the change been as profound as in Montana. TU has completed water leases to restore fisheries across Montana, and in 2007 the state passed comprehensive groundwater protection legislation. TU also helped the state to purchase water to permanently maintain Bitterroot River minimum streamflows.