More water problems reported at Rocky Boy, repairs on the way

More water problems have been reported at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, while parts are on the way to repair some problems that started with a lightning storm last weekend.

Residents in the Duck Creek and Middle Dry Fork villages on the reservation are being asked to conserve water today.

The Chippewa Cree Tribal Water Resources Department received a call from the Rocky Boy Police Department and other water users in the area about low water pressure, according to a post made Tuesday night on the Facebook page of KHEW, the tribe’s radio station.

No one from Water Resources was available to confirm the situation before print deadline this morning.  

At 6:30 p.m., Water Resources responded to the call at the Rocky Boy police department and by 9:30 p.m. tracked the issue to an area between two mainline gate valves, the post said.

The post, made at 10:44 p.m. last night, said no reports of homes without water have come in, but other calls about low water pressure have.

The post said that at 9:30 p.m last night water levels in the Colliflower tank dropped to a critical level of 0.7 feet and had lost 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of water.  

Water Resources anticipates that water levels would start to build back up over night, the post said.

The low water pressure is the latest in a series of problems that have plagued the reservation’s water system.

Last Friday, a Box Elder pump house took a direct hit from lightning during a storm and that knocked two groundwater wells offline, affecting service to 300 homes in the Blue Tower, Prairie View, Country View and Wild Rose Villages.

All affected homes continued to have access to water because Water Resources was able to open a valve to bleed water from three other wells, Water Resources Director Dustin White said Saturday.

White said Tuesday the parts needed to fix the problem had been ordered by Water Resources and will arrive Friday.

In July, the tribe put in place several restrictions on outdoor water usage due to low water levels and dry conditions.