Power outage at pump house on Rocky Boy shuts down two wells

The Chippewa Cree Tribal Water Resources Department's Public Works Water Crew is responding to a power outage at a pump house on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, that have knocked two groundwater wells off line, a post on the Facebook page of KHEW 88.5 FM, the tribe's radio station, said Saturday at noon.

Water Resources Director Dustin White confirmed in a Facebook instant messenger conversation Saturday afternoon that the outage had taken place at the Box Elder pump house, where groundwater pump controls and electrical breakers for parts of the reservation's water system are located and where water is chlorinated.

"Currently our Box Elder pump house has no power," White said. He added that the tribe will not be able to obtain some of the parts needed to get the wells back into operation won't be available until Monday or Tuesday.

The pump house is is a fourth of a mile east of Box Elder School. White said the outage has left two groundwater wells out of operation, The outages has affected service to 300 homes in the Blue Tower, Prairie View, Country View and Wild Rose Villages, White said.

He added that the two wells produce 20 to 30 gallons of water a minute or 30,000 to 42,000 gallons per day.

Though the well outages have affected about 300 homes, none are without water. White said he and his department have been able to open a valve to bleed water from three wells in the upper water system.

White said the cause of the outage is not known, but it is believed the pump house took a direct hit from lightening during a thunderstorm that passed through the area between 9:30 and 11p.m Friday night.

He said the Lone Tree Bar in Box Elder but off the reservation was hit by lightening also lost electricity.

Calls made to the bar Saturday afternoon were not answered.