Town hall meeting set on St. Mary, Milk rivers study

The International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board will be holding a public town hall meeting May 2, a press release from the International Joint Commission said, adding that all are welcome to attend.

The board, launched in November 2021, is looking at water shared between the United States and Canada in a 1921 agreement regulating the sharing of water from the St. Mary and Milk rivers.

The study board was created to explore "options to improve access to apportioned waters by each country, in recognition of climate change and challenges to apportionment since the original 1921 order was issued," says the website of the International Joint Commission, which manages sharing water that crosses the boundaries of the two nations. "The effort includes a desire to achieve long-term resilience in accessing the shared waters of the St. Mary and Milk rivers."

The International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board is conducting a study and analyzing data to develop recommendations to improve each country's access to apportionment - share of the natural flow of these watersheds. These recommendations will then be submitted to the International Joint Commission at the study's conclusion in 2025. 

The purpose of the meeting in May is to update the public on the study's progress, work plan and timeline of studies into 2024, as well as to solicit public feedback on future engagement.

Some members of the study's Technical Working Groups will be in attendance, with the Study Board presenting information on various technical topics these groups have been working on. The Study Board is very interested in hearing the perspectives of citizens around the basin and looks forward to conversing with a wide range of water users.

The public meeting will be held May 2 from 6-8 p.m. in Best Western Plus Havre Inn and Suites, 1425 Highway 2 NW.

The St. Mary and Milk rivers are connected through the St. Mary Canal, which moves water from the more sustainable flow of the St. Mary River to the naturally ephemeral Milk River. These waters are split, or apportioned, between Canada and the United States under the provisions in the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and in the IJC's 1921 Order. The water flow is measured at the border and the amount available to users in each country is calculated according to the guidelines used by the federally appointed accredited officers.

The work plan is being written as work progresses to rehabilitate the system that diverts water into the Milk River, the very issue that led to the creation of the International Joint Commission that oversees water on the borders of the two countries.

The St. Mary and Milk rivers originate in the mountains and foothills of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, flowing northeast across the international border from Montana into Alberta, Canada. The St. Mary River continues north, while the Milk River turns east and parallels the international border for 70 miles before turning south back into Montana.

The St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works was one of the first projects the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to build when it was created at the start of the last century. It stores water at Sherburne Dam on Swiftcurrent Creek, which is then diverted through 29 miles of canals, dikes, siphons and drop structures into the north fork of the Milk River. After flowing into Canada, it reenters Montana and eventually flows into the Missouri River.

After 20 years of work to find a way to rehabilitate the diversion and conveyance works - it was shut down for the summer in 2020 when a drop structure at the end of the system collapsed - major funding is finally being put to the rehabilitation effort, including The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act allocating $100 million for work on the system.

Members of Montana's congressional delegation introduced in 2021 the St. Mary's Reinvestment Act, which would have authorize $52 million for rehabilitating the system and require an ability-to-pay study on what the users of water in the Milk River can afford and set the cost share accordingly. The bill did not pass in the last session of Congress.

Disputes over the ownership of the St. Mary River and Milk River water is what led to the creation of the International Joint Commission to oversee water apportionment between the two countries.

The dispute led to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, which the IJC website says is "perhaps the most important bilateral agreement between Canada and the United States. Over the past century, it has provided a foundation for cooperation on shared natural resources on the basis of equality between the two countries."

Signed at a time when disagreement over the shared waterways - in several regions - could have divided the nations, the Boundary Waters Treaty established an organization, the International Joint Commission, to investigate, resolve and prevent boundary water disputes between the two countries," the website says.

It says that, since holding its first meeting in 1912, the IJC has resolved more than 100 matters raised by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The IJC provides direction for the measurement and apportionment - sharing - of water that crosses the international boundary in the St. Mary and Milk river basins, in accordance with the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the IJC Order of 1921.

The 1921 order provided instructions on how the measurement and apportionment of water from these two rivers will be managed by the accredited Irrigation and reclamation officers - now known as the Accredited Officers - appointed by each country.

The IJC press release offered the following links for additional information. Links:

• The St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board, https://www.ijc.org/en/smmr

• The Study Board's Directive, https://www.ijc.org/en/smmr/directive

• An Overview of the Study, https://www.ijc.org/sites/default/files/SMMR-Study-Overview-2022.pdf

• The Accredited Officers of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, https://www.ijc.org/en/aosmmr

• The 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, https://www.ijc.org/en/who/mission/bwt

• The 1921 Order, https://www.ijc.org/en/aosmmr/order-and-recommendations-matter-measurement-and-apportionment-waters-st-mary-and-milk.