By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – With the St. Mary’s System up and running and the water level in Fresno at adequate levels, the Milk River Joint Board of Control has allowed for the start of water to be released for irrigation
“Pools are full or fuller than normal in Nelson, and Fresno is starting to come up, so it’s looking good,” says Project Manager Jennifer Patrick. “The St. Mary’s System is looking good and we have had no issues to date with that system.”
Fresno Reservoir is currently at around 78 percent of full pool with over 72,000 acre-feet of storage. Patrick says she expects the Reservoir to stay around that level for some time.
“It’ll probably stay pretty consistent now. We’ll match inflows and outflows as best as we can for irrigation and some runoff. Hopefully this weekend, with the precipitation that’s forecasted, it’ll help out a bit and flow some irrigation down. But as you move east in the state towards Malta and Glasgow, everything starts getting a little bit drier than we are up near Havre and Chinook.”
