Work begins on broken irrigation diversion pipe in Montana

Southern Alberta Newspapers

Construction in Montana to replace pipe in a failed irrigation diversion on the St. Mary and Milk River basins was scheduled to begin Oct. 21.

The Havre Daily News reported that delivery of sections of the 90-inch diameter steel pipe began earlier this month, and a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation schedule outlines Oct. 21 as the beginning of US$51 million in replacement work funded by the U.S. federal and Montana governments.

The siphon, which transfers water from the St. Mary system to the Milk River System at Babb, Mont. (south of Cardston), failed on June 17. That halted transfers which typically account for 60 to 80 per cent of the summer flow on the Milk River.