Montana’s congressional delegates said Tuesday that it will be an uphill battle, but they hope to secure a significant amount of funding for water projects in Montana, including projects impacting north-central Montana. “One thing I am sure about is the projects will never get completed if they don’t get funding,” U.S. Sen. Jon Tester said in a telephone press conference from Sioux Falls, S.D. “(Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.) And I will work together in the Senate and hopefully find solutions to water projects in this region.” Tester, who went to South Dakota for a field hearing of the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said more must be done to fund water projects including six in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Tester sits on the subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who called the field hearing held in Sioux Falls. Tester said the lack of funding requested by the administration — President Bush included no money for the water projects in his budget proposal — means the congressional delegation will have to add funding as earmarks to bills. “Rural America truly has been neglected for far too long, and the president’s budget shows that,” he said. Tester said the hearing showed that Montana is not alone — North Dakota and South Dakota also have water projects that have no funding proposed. “They all involve Indian nations, they all are needed and none have been in the president’s budget,” he said. Two water projects directly impact north-central Montana — the rehabilitation of the 100-year-old St. Mary Diversion, which supplies much of the water to the Milk River each year, and the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System, which, when completed, will supply water to nearly 30,000 people on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and 15 communities off of the reservation. Annmarie Robinson of Bear Paw Development Corp. said Tuesday that funding of the regional water system has been slow coming. The project, which was authorized at $229 million in 2002, has received about $15.8 million so far. The Chippewa Cree Tribe and the water authority representing the off-reservation portion of the project requested $32 million last year. Robinson said they received about $5.9 million. That is slowing down the process, She added. With that funding, the project delayed working on a water treatment plant at Tiber Reservoir — the plan is to treat water from Tiber and transport it to users on Rocky Boy and systems including Big Sandy, Box Elder, Havre, the Hill County Water District, Chester and other systems in the region — and found interim solutions instead. The project selected for the reservation’s share is to install pipelines from a reverse-osmosis water treatment plant near Northern Winz Casino to residences near Box Elder. Those pipes will be connected to the regional water system once it is ready for operation. The water authority project selected was to connect the North Havre Water District to the Havre Water Treatment Plant, again with the pipeline eventually connected to the regional system. Robinson said the main work on the project is stalled until major funding is appropriated. “If we continue to get those small chunks we will have to continue to look at interim solutions,” she said, adding, “(the lack of funding) is huge and obviously inflation is eating the biggest chunk of getting anything done.” Part of the selection of interim solutions is resolving water quality issues for the communities served. The North Havre Water District is one of five planning to join the regional water system that are under compliance orders from the state Department of Environmental Quality because of water quality problems. The regional system was originally proposed as part of the state and federal governments’ water compact with the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, due to a shortage of potable water for residents of the reservation. All three members of Montana’s congressional delegation said Tuesday they would continue to push for funding of the water projects, which also includes the Fort Peck and Dry Prairie project which will serve people on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and people off the reservation in Valley, Daniels, Sheridan and Roosevelt counties. Sara Kuban, spokeswoman for Baucus, said making sure Montanans have access to clean, reliable, drinkable water is one of his top priorities, and the Rocky Boy/North Central Regional Water System is at the top of his list. She said Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, will continue to work with Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to secure funding. Rehberg said his position on the House of Representatives Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee helped him to secure the money appropriated for this year. “We can always do more to match the rising costs associated with these projects,” Rehberg said. “The budget’s tight but I remain dedicated to doing everything possible to bring clean drinking water to Montana." Tester said he and Baucus are looking for sources of money in the Senate, including for the St. Mary’s project. The 100-yearold system of dams, dikes, canals and siphons transports water from the St. Mary River to the Milk River. It was approved for construction in 1903 as an irrigation project, has had no major repairs due to a lack of funding since it was completed some 90 years ago. It supplies water to communities including Havre, Chinook and Harlem and provides recreational opportunities as well as its primary function — supplying water to irrigators east of Havre. “All of us especially, those of us who live up there, know how critical it is,” Tester said about funding that project. “It’s not if it will blow up its when it will blow up. “We’re just looking for pots of money we can funnel to that to start doing that project,” he said. Tester said he doesn’t know how much money the group can secure for the projects, but they will try to get enough to get them moving. Rocky Boy’s/North Central, for example, has once again requested $32 million for the next fiscal year. “That’s what we will work toward because I think that’s what we will need to move forward,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re going to get that (full amount) — I’m not saying we won’t — but it is what we should work toward.”
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