Regional water system receiving $77.5 million more in funding

U.S. Sen Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced Tuesday that he today secured $77.56 million through his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA, for the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System.

The funding, which was awarded by the Bureau of Reclamation, will be used for core pipeline construction on segments 7 and 8, and the continued construction of a water treatment plant and segments serving the Havre, Chester and Shelby Hub service areas. 

“Montanans sent me to the Senate to deliver for our communities,” said Tester. “This funding to build out top-notch water infrastructure will help support businesses, create jobs, and provide certainty for folks in rural areas. I’m going to keep the pressure on the administration to get this funding out the door so we can get these projects off the ground as soon as possible.”

Tester has worked to ensure that rural communities have access to modern, reliable water infrastructure. Last March, Tester secured $101.5 million for Montana rural water systems — the first tranche of the approximately $271 million he secured for rural water infrastructure in IIJA. The initial round of funding was delivered to the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System, the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System, and the Fort Peck/Dry Prairie Rural Water System.

That tranche of funding brought $57.5 million to the Rocky Boy’s/North Central project.

Tester also secured through IIJA up to $100 million for rehabilitating the Milk River Project including the St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance works.

  The Rocky Boy’s regional water system began in 1997 when the Chippewa Cree Tribe and the state negotiated a water rights claim that allocated 10,000 acre feet from Tiber Reservoir, also known as Lake Elwell, to the tribe. The Montana Legislature and later Congress ratified the agreement which was signed into law in 1999 by President Bill Clinton. The project which was meant to supply water to the reservation soon expanded to other communities.

President George W. Bush signed in 2002 the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System Act that authorized the design and construction of the project.

The project includes a treatment plant at Tiber, a pumping plant for Rocky Boy, a core water line to transport water to the reservation and non-core projects to transport water to the participating communities off the reservation.

Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation says on its web page for the project that participating water systems are: Town of Big Sandy, City of Cut Bank, City of Havre, Town of Dutton, City of Shelby, Town of Sunburst, Town of Kevin, City of Conrad, Town of Chester, Brady County Water District, North Havre County Water District, Sweetgrass County Water District, Hill County Water District, Loma County Water District, Oilmont County Water District, Sage Creek County Water District, South Chester County Water District, Tiber County Water District, Devon Water Inc., Galata County Water District, Riverview Colony and Eagle Creek Colony.

The project, originally authorized at $228 million in 2002, has received small chunks of funding in most years when members of Montana’s congressional delegation would add funding.

Some of the completed projects include connecting some water systems to allow them to access treated water, which will then be connected to the regional system once the treatment plant is complete.

Work on that treatment plant started in 2017.

Tester’s release said he worked across the aisle for months to negotiate his bipartisan infrastructure package with a group of five Republicans, four Democrats, and the White House, and he was the only member of Montana’s congressional delegation to vote for it. Tester’s law is projected to create more than 800,000 American jobs and lower costs for businesses by making targeted investments that will strengthen the nation without raising taxes on working families.

Tester secured significant investment in Montana in the legislation, including $2.82 billion for Montana’s roads, highways and bridges; $2.5 billion to complete all authorized Indian water rights settlements; $1 billion to complete all authorized rural water projects through the Bureau of Reclamation; $65 billion to deploy broadband to areas across the country that lack internet access and additionally make online connectivity affordable; and $3.37 billion to reduce wildfire risk nationwide, among others. Tester also worked to ensure that all iron, steel, and construction materials used for these projects must be made in America.