WASHINGTON — Several large water projects in Montana got a go-ahead this week after the state’s members of Congress all voted to help override President Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Act.

Now that the projects are approved, the money to fund them will have to be included in appropriations bills. They would bring in $153 million for the St. Mary’s Diversion in northern Montana, $30 million for various Yellowstone River projects and $5 million for Missoula riverfront development.

Democratic Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester on Thursday voted with a large majority of the Senate to override the veto, 79-14. Baucus chairs the transportation and infrastructure subpanel of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversaw the bill.

“Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting — my colleagues and I fought like the dickens to get this bill done,” Baucus said in a statement. “Folks along the Hi-Line and in other areas of the state can breathe a sigh of relief — access to clean, reliable water for drinking, cooking and irrigation is on the way.”

Tester said the water projects are vital to the state.

“I can’t imagine why, after seven years of drunken sailor spending, the president would stand in the way of repairing crumbling bridges and delivering a lifeline as simple as water to rural America,” he said in a statement. “I’m proud to see that we were able to override this irresponsible veto and these good projects will be saved.”

GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg and the House voted earlier in the week to override the veto, 361-54.

“WRDA authorizes funding for many projects critical to Montana’s natural resources,” he said at the time. “The president’s veto was shortsighted and I proudly joined my colleagues in voting in favor of this important legislation.”

Projects approved in Montana include:

- $153 million for rehabilitation and construction of the St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance in consultation with the Fort Belknap and Blackfeet tribes;

- $30 million for the Army Corps of Engineers for restoration projects along the Yellowstone River to benefit the ecosystem and recreational opportunities, such as fish passage, irrigation improvements, bank stabilization and more;

- $5 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out ecosystem restoration, flood damage reduction, and recreation sites on 45 acres in the Clark Fork River Revitalization Project in Missoula;

- Authorization for the Bureau of Reclamation to work with the Corps of Engineers to plan and construct a fish passage at Intake Diversion Dam on the Yellowstone River and open up 238 miles of critical habitat for the pallid sturgeon in the Upper Missouri River Basin;

- Establishment of the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee to assist the Interior secretary in conducting studies of the Missouri River and tributaries and determining actions required to mitigate losses of habitat, recover endangered species, and restore the ecosystem.