{"id":209572,"date":"2024-07-11T14:33:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T20:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/?p=209572"},"modified":"2024-07-11T16:13:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T22:13:31","slug":"why-it-takes-a-crisis-to-trigger-funding-for-montana-largest-irrigation-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/2024\/07\/11\/why-it-takes-a-crisis-to-trigger-funding-for-montana-largest-irrigation-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Why it takes a crisis to trigger funding for Montana\u2019s largest irrigation project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rivets were still popping from the seams of the St. Mary siphon<\/a> when Jennifer Patrick started crunching the numbers for repairing the century-old system that 18,000 residents of Montana\u2019s Hi-Line depend on for water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would take 3,600 feet of pipe \u2014 two-thirds of a mile of pipe so big men can walk through it without bumping their heads \u2014 to get water flowing again to a 200-mile stretch of the Milk River Irrigation Project. They would need a new steel bridge across the St. Mary River and enough earth-moving equipment to restore a river channel completely buried beneath rocky soil eroded from the hillside where the siphon blew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were short of the one thing money couldn\u2019t buy: time. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation broke the news Tuesday that for the first time in a century, the Hi-Line will be without water from the St. Mary River for more than a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community water towers and reservoirs along the route will have to rely on runoff for recharge at least until August 2025, assuming everything goes right. Runoff isn\u2019t much in an area that gets less than 12 inches of precipitation a year and can go \u201copen\u201d in the wintertime, meaning there\u2019s no snow accumulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that are going to have to fall perfectly into place, but we\u2019re moving forward,\u201d Patrick told Montana Free Press, noting that replacement pipe might not be available for another six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, Fresno Reservoir, a key source of stored water for the area, will be drawn down for repairs and won\u2019t be able to fully recharge until the siphon work is completed, sometime next September at the earliest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s a lot of things that are going to have to fall perfectly into place, but we\u2019re moving forward.\u201d<\/p>Jennifer Patrick, Project Manager,  Milk River Joint Board of Control<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n

\u201cIf we have an open winter, construction on Fresno, and the lack of supply from [Lake] Sherburne, by next year it could be tough to get a cup of coffee or flush the toilet in Havre, Harlem, Chinook \u2026\u201d said Marko Manoukian, a member of the irrigation project\u2019s joint board of control for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The siphons have been a \u201cdripping time bomb\u201d for decades, Manoukian said, borrowing a phrase used by a magazine article that brought national attention to the project a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE MONEY SPIGOT<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The St. Mary Siphon is one of several mega projects authorized by Congress in 1905 to spark agriculture growth in the West. The objective was to divert water from the Canada-bound St. Mary River near Glacier National Park to boost the anemic flow of the Milk River, which was known to run dry six out of 10 years, according to the Milk River Joint Board of Control. The diversion, with the turn of a valve, kept the Milk watered all the way to the Missouri River, more than 700 meandering river miles downstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using only gravity and natural suction, a series of pipes and canals drew water uphill from the St. Mary diversion dam and then down to the North Fork of the Milk through a series of drops that managed the flow as the water reached the Milk River Irrigation Project. Yellowing photos of the project\u2019s creation show workers digging channels by hand, with some work employing horses and wagons.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tRELATED<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"UPDATED:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

UPDATED: \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 failure of St. Mary siphons leads to localized flooding in Babb<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

A piece of infrastructure used to divert water from the St. Mary River to the North Fork of the Milk River has suffered a \u201ccatastrophic failure,\u201d according to Milk River Project personnel. The failure involves the St. Mary River Siphon, which is composed of a pair of 90-inch riveted steel barrels that traverse a 3,200-foot section of the St. Mary Valley to divert water to the North Fork of the Milk River. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Amanda Eggert<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\"Undated
\u201cJas. Griffin Ranch \u2014 1st pump irrigation system, Milk River Project.\u201d Undated. Montana Historical Society Photo Archives. Credit:<\/span> Photographer unidentified. Courtesy of the Montana Historical Society, Montana Dams and Irrigation Collection \/ Montana Historical Society<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s estimated that the cost of repairing every element of the system would be about $400 million, which amounts to about $3,305 for each of the 121,000 acres irrigated by the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crisis changes the conversation about payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could get into farm policy of the last 100 years and you could write a fricking book about that. The truth is it doesn\u2019t work,\u201d said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who dryland farms not far from Havre, the largest of the Hi-Line communities dependent on the Milk River for irrigation and drinking water. \u201cAnd the only way to get it relieved is you got to do a series of studies, which by the way for the most part have been done on this project and found they couldn\u2019t support 75%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tester, Montana\u2019s only statewide elected Democrat, carried the Fort Belknap Water Compact and Settlement bill through the Senate in June. There is $275 million for the Milk River Project tucked inside the legislation, which settles water rights claims of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"St.
St. Mary Siphon failure, June 17, 2024. Credit:<\/span> Courtesy Milk River Joint Board of Control<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every federal water project on the Hi-Line is connected to a federal obligation to honor tribal treaties, from Fort Peck to the Rocky Boy\u2019s reservation. Those treaty obligations have been used as an end-around to federal cost-sharing requirements for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House version of the Fort Belknap compact is being carried by Western District U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get the engineering done. Let\u2019s get the parts ordered, then move forward and fix the St. Mary\u2019s bypass so we don\u2019t have the discussion 20 years from now,\u201d Zinke told MTFP.  The project should be more than a regional concern, Zinke said, because the rivers involved are at the upstream limits of two major drainages: Hudson Bay for the St. Mary, and the Missouri River for the Milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is some anxiety among project stakeholders about differences between the Senate and House versions of the Fort Belknap legislation. The House version includes $250 million for a Blackfeet Reservation wastewater treatment plant, which the Senate version doesn\u2019t. If both pass, the two versions of the bill will have to be reconciled in conference committee, where members from each legislative branch hammer out the bills\u2019 differences. There aren\u2019t many working days left in the federal funding year, which ends Sept. 30. Lawmakers are in D.C. for only 8 days through the end of August. The Congress\u2019 September schedule, usually dominated by a budget scramble to keep the federal government from shutting down, hasn\u2019t yet been published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding for the project has been flowing steadily, by congressional standards, for five years, mostly because of infrastructure failures. In May 2020, when one of the chutes diverting water to the Milk washed out<\/a>, Congress approved $8 million, which was just a down payment for the necessary expenditures. The project was shut down 22 weeks for repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2021 the Biden administration\u2019s infrastructure bill was passed<\/a> with $100 million included for the Milk River project. Tester, who had a role in crafting it, was the only member of Montana\u2019s federal delegation to vote for the infrastructure bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, another $85 million was allocated to St. Mary diversion and headworks replacement, followed by the $275 million in the Fort Belknap Water Rights Settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the money flowing to the Milk River project during crisis points isn\u2019t indicative of the work taking place, said Ryan Newman, manager of the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s Montana area office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the surface, it looks like we’re running things to failure and then have an emergency upon failure, when in reality that’s not the case at all,\u201d Newman said. \u201cThere’s two different things going on. First off, the entire system is very old, showing its age, and reaching the end of its functional service life up and down the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s an incredible amount of repairs, replacements, rehabilitation that takes place annually up and down the entire system. There are a couple of very large features that come with a very large price tag. And those are the items that we’re seeing,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tLATEST STORIES<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

75% of voters want Montana to have at least as much federal land as it does now<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

Federal land transfer has been a party of the GOP party platform at both the state and national level, but a recent MTFP-Eagleton poll indicates that a majority of Republican voters oppose reducing the amount of land in federal ownership.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Amanda Eggert<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen joins contest for Zinke\u2019s western U.S. House District seat<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

Jacobsen made her announcement on Facebook with a campaign video portraying her as both a political outsider and the favorite of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Tom Lutey<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Montanans want more solar, natural gas development, are less interested in new coal plants<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

The poll results on Montana\u2019s energy mix come as politicians and policymakers grapple with surging electricity demand spurred by investment in artificial intelligence and the data centers that support it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Amanda Eggert<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t