On this date in 1988, the river was running 1,750 cubic feet per second, Ken Kaufman, manager of the Huntley Irrigation Project at Ballantine, said Friday morning. Today its at 1,130.

By noon Friday, it had dropped another 10 cfs, putting the flow at 21 percent of normal for this time of year.

The 1988 drought is a benchmark for Montana farmers and firefighters alike as dryland crops desiccated and thousands of acres of forest went up in flames that year.

Kaufman expects the water level to be 900 cfs by Saturday. Hardly a doubt, he said.

Weve been short before, said Dan Swartz, but Ive never seen the canal this low. It is no surprise. We all knew it would happen.

Swartz, 46, farms near Ballantine; has for 25 years. He said his sugar beets and corn need two more drinks before harvest. The beets need water til Labor Day, he said. The beet harvest begins the first week of October.

Because he raises the corn for grain rather than silage, he said his corn will need water the same as the beets.

The canal normally carries 750 cfs, Kaufman said. Friday, it was at 450, which left Swartz wide open headgate with only a trickle into his irrigation ditch. The canal is fed by the Huntley Project Diversion Dam, one of the original Bureau of Reclamation water development projects completed almost 100 years ago. Kaufman said 27,000 acres of farmland receive water from the project. The major crops are malt barley, sugar beets, corn for grain and silage and alfalfa.

Montana is in the throes of a drought for the second year running. No snowpack in the mountains, no spring moisture and sizzling temperatures in recent weeks have reduced the Yellowstone through Billings to the point where PPL Montanas Corette coal-fired generator might have to shut down.

Unusual rains in June and July staved off the inevitable shortages, which were aggravated by a recent week of triple-digit temperatures. Irrigators from Park City to Miles City are getting nervous.

The Big Ditch Co., with its intake about 10 miles west of Park City, has some water in it, maybe half, said Dick Hardt, the vice president of the irrigators group.

Hardt, 65, said he has never seen the Yellowstone this low. The Big Ditch carries water all the way into west Billings.

If we can get (full) water in the ditch for the next week or two, we might get over the hump, he said.

The ditch company had asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last March for permission to deepen the channel upstream from the headgate, Hardt said.

We are waiting for our permit, he said Friday afternoon. A while later, he said, The Corps gave permission today to do the work.

One ditch that is running full is the Billings Bench Water Association canal that moves water from Laurel through Billings to the northeast of the city.

Were in good shape, said manager Glenn Downer, Jr. We are not hurting for water.

He attributed the old timers for placing the headgate in the right spot in the river.

Kaufman and his crew are practically working around the clock, he said, in an effort to manage the water in a fair manner. There are four ditch riders and four maintenance men, who spend a lot of time keeping the moss off the grates and the water running smoothly.

Its a share-share situation, he said.

Swartz said he is looking at getting a pump to place in the canal to fill his irrigation ditches, but that will require the consent of the board, he said. The farmers in the valley took over the irrigation project in 1927, and it is run by an elected board of directors that hire the manager.

Dan Gatch, who manages the Corette plant for PPL Montana, has two problems that could cause the shutdown of the generators.

Were scrambling to get some pumps in (the river), Gatch said.

The pumps, being hauled to Billings by truck, are due Tuesday.

That is not as soon as Id like, he said. The pumps will pull water from one portion of the river to another where the intake pumps for the plant are located. The water needs to be deep enough to keep the intake suction from pulling air.

A second problem is the water temperature, Gatch said. The companys water discharge permit allows for an increase of 3 degrees in the water temperature going back into the river from the cooling system.

Gatch said the plant has backed down on its full load of 150 megawatts.

We are at a critical stage now, to the point of effecting the plant, he said.

Gatch said he has a contingency plan for doing maintenance work if it needs to shut down.

He noted that the Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs just north of Yellowstone National Park was running higher than at Billings. The 1600 cfs measurement Friday morning is 45 percent of normal.

Gatch said he hoped the irrigators upstream are being frugal and can help us out.

Downstream conditions are not much better.

Roger Muggli, manager of the Tongue and Yellowstone Irrigation Project at Miles City, told The Gazette Thursday said the average flow in August on the Tongue is 220 cfs.

Now its like in the 20s, he said. It is an unprecedented low.

He said he received 42 phone calls Saturday night from farmers with low water problems.

He said the corn south of Miles City is wilting severely.

Muggli said he was trying to supply water on a rotation basis.