Projects

Irrigation Infrastructure Design

Project Description

One of the biggest challenges in our watershed is balancing the multiple demands for water in a free-flowing system with an increasingly uncertain supply. Existing water rights can exceed water supply in drought years such as 2021, resulting in extremely low flows and increased water temperatures. The City of Butte typically derives 40% of its drinking water from the Big Hole River, but in 2021, that percentage climbed to over 60%, further straining the river system. Higher temperatures and low flows impact our blue-ribbon trout fishery, which in turn drives the economies of the small towns along the river.

Despite executing the Big Hole River Drought Management Plan (DMP) for over 27 years, the Big Hole Watershed Committee (BHWC) has identified critical irrigation infrastructure in the Big Hole that needs to improve in order for irrigators to effectively manage their water for conservation and water quality. Aging infrastructure and lack of measuring devices currently prevents irrigators from efficiently adjusting their water use at headgates in response to drought conditions and also creates a need for annual maintenance involving heavy equipment in the river and subsequent increases in sedimentation.

Project Status

In 2022, the BHWC received American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to pay for engineered designs on 3 headgates on the Wise River and 3 headgates on Jerry Creek. While those projects are in design, we are currently preparing an ambitious set of grant proposals to fully fund the design and implementation of additional irrigation infrastructure improvements across our watershed in an effort to improve local water conservation while benefitting the Big Hole River fishery.