Feds fund Rocky Boy water system repairs

Indian Health Services will reimburse the Chippewa Cree Tribe for a portion of the cost associated with recent  breaks and contamination of the water system on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation that had left some reservation residents without access to water.

The office of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont, announced the funding in a press release.

Daines had urged Mary Smith, deputy director of IHS, in a Jan. 5 letter to provide funding for repairs to the water system.  

Tribal Water Resources Interim Director Dustin White said the agreement will provide $13,000 for expenses related to repairs of the water system, which he said has depleted the department’s  budget.

“It reimburses us for wages and salaries and parts that we had to spend on repairing the mains,” White said Thursday.

The funding was sought by the tribe after broken pipes in the reservation’s water system were identified Dec. 22, cutting off access to water for 1,500 to 2,000 residents.

Normal service has been restored, and an Environmental Protection Agency boil order that instructed residents to boil water was lifted Monday after tests determined the water was not contaminated.

White said the tribe had sought additional funding from the EPA and Bureau of Indian Affairs to cover the costs of the repairs. However, he said, those agencies can only provide technical assistance and not financial reimbursements,

The tribe is still working with the state through the Montana Department of Emergency Services in the hopes that Gov. Steve Bullock will approve a request to pay the tribe back for some of the cost of bottled water, he said. White said that if the request is granted, the state could reimburse the tribe for as much as 75 percent of the $48,000 spent on bottled water.

White said fixing the water system and provide residents with alternate sources of water cost the tribe a total of $75,000.