HAVRE — The International Joint Commission’s St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board held a public meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4, in Havre as it gathers feedback on a five-year study examining how the United States and Canada share water from the two river systems. This was the first of three scheduled, with additional meetings in Milk River and Lethbridge, Alberta.
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“The purpose is to get feedback from the people who are actually doing irrigating in this area and to let them know what’s being looked at and what the recommendations are starting to evolve and look like,” said Lance Yohe, a U.S. commissioner with the International Joint Commission.
The study began in 2021 and focuses on one long-standing issue: The United States and Canada do not always receive the amount of water called for under the agreement governing the two rivers.
Click here to read the study and make a comment.
“There’s been a disjunct in the amount of water that Canada and the U.S. are receiving compared to what the treaty and the order state should be the shared amount between the two countries,” said Sue Lowry, one of three U.S. members serving on the Study Board.
The study overview explains how the two river systems are closely connected. Water from the St. Mary River is diverted through a 29-mile canal into the North Fork of the Milk River. The Milk then flows into Alberta before returning to Montana, passing through Fresno Reservoir near Havre and eventually joining the Missouri River near Fort Peck.
The United States and Canada have shared the rivers for more than a century under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, when the IJC was formed. Later, the 1921 order from the IJC added more detailed instructions for measuring and dividing the water between the two countries.
In 2021, the Study Board was tasked with “exploring 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," according to the website.
Yohe explained the board’s draft recommendations generally fall into two categories: changes to how the water is managed and improvements to the physical system.
“Can we make the canal more efficient? Can we build new retention structures? Or can we do some control structures on retention we already have?” Yohe said. “How do we balance all that, and how do we try to get to a point where everybody’s getting their apportionment?”
He added some management changes may be easier to put in place, and larger construction projects would require more money, planning and cooperation between governments.
Lowery explained the study itself also goes beyond irrigation. Board members considered recreation, aquatic health and Indigenous perspectives as they developed the draft recommendations.
“This is where the rubber really hits the road,” she said, “as far as how these recommendations will be anticipated, how they’re going to impact the people who actually live and work and utilize water here in the basins.”
Public comments on the draft report are due Aug. 31. The Study Board will review that feedback before submitting its final recommendations to the International Joint Commission in late September. The commission will then review the report and consider what recommendations to send to the U.S. and Canadian governments.
