Archived Story

Milltown bypass channel starts filling
By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian

A backhoe works on shoring up a breach at the lower end of a bypass channel at the Milltown Reservoir cleanup site Tuesday. The breach is allowing the Blackfoot River, seen in the background, to slowly fill up the channel before the upper end is opened, allowing the Clark Fork River through.
TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Watch work on the bypass channel at the Milltown Reservoir cleanup site
Like a muddy bathtub, the bypass channel at the Milltown Superfund site started slowly filling Tuesday, marking another milestone in the cleanup project.

Dozens of construction workers, who spent 18 months constructing the rock-lined channel, took a break to watch as the Blackfoot River poured into the big ditch along Interstate 90.

“It’s a big day,” said Diana Hammer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who joined a small crowd on the bluff overlooking the Milltown Reservoir.

Project officials estimated it would take until late Tuesday to fill the bypass channel, where the Clark Fork River also is to be redirected Thursday or Friday.

The next big step is scheduled for late next week when workers will breach the temporary earthen dam where the Milltown powerhouse was located and allow the two rivers to flow unimpeded for the first time in 100 years.
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