St. Mary Working Group meets as water supply is short

The St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group (Work Group) met March 16, 2016 in Havre to discuss the 100 year old irrigation structure. Much of the discussion centered on major construction projects by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the short water supply. Currently, the snow pack for St. Mary and the Milk River is 81%. While one major storm could push the system to 100% of average, irrigators will be faced with a short water supply and many decisions of an early shutoff. For maintenance purposes, water will be turned on earlier and shutoff as early as August 10th in Malta.

Many other parts of the state are experiencing short water supplies like the Tongue, Powder and Lower Yellowstone. Much of the sub mountain areas of western Montana are also dry.

The BOR plans on fixing the dikes at Nelson Reservoir in August at a cost of $4 million. This will be billed to the Safety of Dams and very little to irrigators. At the same time, the Malta Irrigation District will fix the gates in the south canal for an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 cost. The District has acquired several grants that will offset the majority of the cost of this needed repair.

Additionally, the BOR will be addressing the stilling basin on Drop 2 of the 5 drops at the end of the canal system. The drops serve to decelerate the water as it flow towards the middle fork of the Milk River on its way to Fresno Reservoir and the 120,000 Milk River Basin irrigated acres. Drop 2 and 5 are in a very deteriorated condition with lots of exposed rebar.

In other action the Working Group approved the payment of $3,000 from local dues to the Montana Water Resource Association. Working Group Co-Chair Marko Manoukian, Jennifer Patrick, Joint Board of Control and Alan Mikkelsen, Coordinator for the Working Group attended the meeting. Manoukian was voted in as a board member of the Montana Water Resource Association and provided the Association with a presentation on the St. Mary/Milk River Project. Patrick is a current board member and holds the chairman seat for the organization.

Kris Polly with Water Strategies, the hired consultant by the Working Group, has met with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to address the 2007 language which gave the Army Corp authority over the St. Mary/Milk River project. The authority needs to be returned to the BOR.

The Working Group discussed that the Blackfeet Water Compact has made its way out of the Senate Committee and onto the floor of the Senate. Mikkelsen had a meeting with the Blackfeet Business Council chairman, Harry Barnes and he would like a letter of support for their Compact. The Joint Board is in support of the Compact as are most of the other irrigation project off of the reservation. For St. Mary, there is $3.5 million for an updated feasibility study in the Compact. The Blackfeet are asking for $420 million. Knowing that all the parties agreed to the Compact the Working Group agreed to send a letter of support for the Compact to the congressional delegation.

The next public meeting of the Working Group is set for April 6th at the Great Northern in Malta at 10 a.m.