Two century-old steel pipes that help convey water from a river on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to a river that helps irrigate northern Montana cropland have failed, causing local flooding and raising concerns about the availability of drinking water for 14,000 residents in the city of Havre later this summer.
No injuries or deaths have been reported since the first 7.5 foot (2.3 meter) pipe split open Monday morning, causing flooding in the rural area east of Glacier National Park near the U.S.-Canadian border. The gushing of water caused some washouts 50 feet (15.24 meters) deep and destabilized the concrete footings holding a second pipe, which broke Monday afternoon, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said.
