Reclamation moving quickly to assess damage on the St. Mary Canal

BILLINGS, Montana – At approximately 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, a concrete drop structure failed on the Bureau of Reclamation's Milk River Project St. Mary Canal, northwest of the town of Cut Bank in northern Montana, located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. When the damage was reported, the canal was flowing approximately 200 cubic-feet-per-second (CFS) which is about 1/3 of the canal's total capacity of approximately 600 CFS. No injuries were reported, and canal flows have been shut off.

This concrete drop structure is the last of five drop structures that use gravity and siphons to co...