MILES CITY — The Oasis, a popular summer swimming destination in Miles City, has shut down for the summer due to critically low water levels on the Tongue River.
The closure has left longtime visitors and residents disappointed, including Evan Eastin, who grew up swimming there.
Watch residents and officials talk about The Oasis shutting down for the summer:
"It was really cheap and it was really nice, you know, it's the only place with diving boards that they have up there," Eastin said Thursday.
For Eastin, the Oasis was more than just a place to cool off — it was a part of his childhood.
"We'd go there all the time since, you know, since I was around nine," Eastin said. "Every day I'd come here."
The closure hit him hard.
"Crack down the middle of the heart," Eastin said.
Brothers Wraith and Sean Peterson share that disappointment.
"We just wanted something to do this summer," Wraith Peterson said.
The water levels at the Oasis are very low, leaving residents to find a new place to swim this summer.
City Councilwoman Brooke Bartholomew says the closure is not a simple one.
"Irrigation districts and the other people who had rights to the Tongue River water mostly for irrigation purposes were allowed to turn their pipes on," Bartholomew said.
When that happened, the flow to the Oasis dropped dramatically.
"When they did that the pipes that kept the water flowing to the Oasis went down to like a trickle. I mean there was — it was barely nothing that was coming in there," Bartholomew said.
Unlike a standard concrete pool, the Oasis requires a constant supply of moving water to function.
"It has to have water constantly flowing into it, as well as the natural process of it seeping into the ground. So, you're going to lose water that way, so there has to be constant flow into it," Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew was clear about what is — and is not — driving the closure.
"It wasn't a budget problem, it wasn't a staffing problem, it wasn't an equipment problem. It is simply a lack of water problem," Bartholomew said.
Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation hydrologist John Lunzer says the region's water supply is already behind where it should be.
"Typically that reservoir fills the first week of June. And so it is not full as of now. It's about 13,000 acre feet short of filling," Lunzer said.
He says the situation will require careful management going forward.
"That reservoir can get them through this year. It is going to be very challenging for the users out there with the shortage of water and how they're going to have to be very tight with their water use and conservation," Lunzer said.
Lunzer noted that conditions can shift quickly.
"Many years we have seen very dry conditions in the reservoir a bit behind, and it can change in a matter of days with rain," Lunzer said.
But any change in weather will not reopen the Oasis this summer. Bartholomew explained why the swimming hole is last in line when water is scarce.
"Our water rights to the Tongue River for the Oasis are recreational. We're at the bottom of the totem pole for that allotment of water," Bartholomew said.
For those who grew up at the Oasis, the closure stings.
"All those other memories here just kind of — it just really sucks not being able to have it open again," Eastin said.
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