Tester, Daines, Rosendale introduce funding for St. Mary Diversion rehabilitation

The three members of Montana's congressional delegation have introduced a bill to pay for work starting to rehabilitate the system that provides much of the water that runs through the Milk River each year and to study how much local users should pay for the rehabilitation.

The St. Mary's Reinvestment Act, being introduced by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., will authorize $52 million to rehabilitate the St. Mary's Diversion and Water Conveyance Works, part of Bureau of Reclamation's Milk River Project in north-central Montana, and require BOR to conduct an ability-to-pay study on what the current water users could afford to pay for the project and set the cost share for the rehabilitation based on that study, a release issued Thursday said.

"Water is life, and without the Milk River Project it would be in short supply for folks who live and work on the Hi-Line," Tester said in the release. "This bill will help ensure a reliable source of water, and rehabilitate a critical piece of water infrastructure without breaking the bank for irrigators on the system. I will keep pushing to ensure the entire Milk River Project is rehabilitated, so water users on the Hi-Line can count on having access to the water they need to survive for years to come."

"Farmers and ranchers' livelihoods in northern Montana depend on the St. Mary's Milk River System and after serving the Hi-Line for over a century, it's past time for an upgrade," Daines said in the release. "The collapse of the drop structure last summer illustrated the urgency in getting this project the funding it needs. We came together to fix the drop structure last summer, and we will come together to get this bill across the finish line."

"As a main source of water for drinking, irrigation, and recreational activities, I am happy to have introduced legislation in the House to help repair the St. Mary's Canal," Rosendale said. "This is long-overdue and I look forward to providing reliable access for water users in the region.

Tester authored and introduced the bill, with Daines joining as an original cosponsor. Rosendale introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.

A long history

The history of both the St. Mary Diversion and the attempts to get it rehabilitated go back a long time, with events in the past year brining the need to the forefront.

The last element of the 29-mile St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance work, a concrete drop structure next to the north fork of the Milk River, collapsed last spring, creating a mad dash to get it repaired, which was finished last fall.

While the drop was out of service, the diversion, which supplies half or more of the water in the Milk River in normal years and up to 90 percent, or more, in drought years, was shut down.

Users of the Milk River had been warning the federal government for more than two decades that catastrophic failure of the system was likely before that failure did appear, and other parts of the system also are in dire need of repair.

The text of the new bill for the funding says the diversion was authorized by Congress March 25, 1905. It was one of the first five projects the newly created Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to build.

It comprises Sherburne Dam, which stores water in Lake Sherburne on Swift Current Creek, a dike that diverts the water into St. Mary River, the diversion dam the new bill references that diverts water into the conveyance works, then 29 miles of canals, gigantic metal siphons and the concrete drop structures that drop the water into the North Fork of the Milk River. Most of the system is on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

The system took years to complete, often using heavy equipment drawn by teams of horses. Much of the conveyance works was completed by 1915, and Sherburne Dam was completed in 1919, a report by Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation says.

The diversion and conveyance works is part of the irrigation system Milk River Project, which also includes components like Fresno Reservoir and Nelson Reservoir.

As an irrigation project, the use and maintenance of the system was set to be paid for by the users, primarily the irrigators in the Milk River Valley. That has been shifted to a 75-25 split with users providing about 75 percent of the funding and the federal government about 25 percent.

Over the years, it also has become a source of water for the municipal water supplies for multiple communities from Havre east on the Milk River and provides large amounts of recreation on the Milk River and its reservoirs as well.

Supporters of the rehabilitation cite the fact that the Milk River Project provides water to 18,000 Montanans and irrigates enough cropland to feed one million people.

And much of the use of the riiver would not exist without the diversion. Before its completion, the Milk River would run dry by the fall of 6 out of 10 years.

Need of repairs

More than 20 years ago, users of the river spearheaded by members of the irrigation authorities on the Milk River began pushing for a movement to rehabilitate the diversion and conveyance works.

With the limited funding provided by users for operation and maintenance, the system had been patched together for decades, and the group warned that the system was in danger of catastrophic failure.

The state created the St. Mary Working Group, with members including representatives of state government, municipalities, recreationists and the irrigators, with its first meeting Nov. 18, 2003.

The group has pushed to plan and find funding for the rehabilitation of the project ever since.

Moving forward on the proect

The failure of Drop Structure 5 May 17, 18 years after the working group started pushing for repairs to prevent catastrophic failure, has been cited as proof of the need to move forward swiftly with the project.

Members of Montana's congressional delegation have been working on the issue for years, including introducing a bill in 2018 to shift the funding to about 75 percent from the federal government and 25 percent from users.

A new proposal arose in the last year to conduct a study to determine the ability of the users of the system to pay for its rehabilitation, rather than simply setting a percentage, which is part of what the new bill will require as well as providing $52 million for the project.