Backflow regs, community needs hearings on tap

The Columbia Falls City Council have a busy Jan. 6 meeting lined up. Included on the agenda is a public hearing on proposed amendments to the city’s backflow prevention regulations and another hearing to begin the public process to gather input on the city’s greatest community needs.

The backflow prevention program has proven to be contentious. The council weathered a mini-revolt at its Sept. 16 meeting after several residents refused to pay inspectors to check equipment intended to protect the city’s water system and the city shut off their water.

The backflow prevention program here was started in 2000. The goal is to prevent organic or chemical contamination at residential, commercial or industrial sites from flowing back into the municipal water system.

About 296 of the city’s 1,840 residential water customers have backflow prevention devices in place, including the hundred or so added last year when the city increased efforts to track customers. The city council is considering the following changes to the program:

• Having the city contract for residential system testing.

• Instituting a penalty for failure to comply with testing requirements.

• Adopting procedures to ensure 100 percent compliance with the testing requirements.

• Determining if individual residential property owners or the city should pay for the testing contract.

• General clean-up and clarification of language in the existing code.

• Reviewing the need for annual testing versus every two or three years.

The city will also hold a public hearing on Jan. 6 for a community needs assessment. Additional hearings, meetings and/or workshops will be scheduled through January and February in an effort to obtain the greatest public input.

The intent of the needs assessment process is to provide the city with a list of potential projects or actions in the areas of housing, economic development and public infrastructure that could be pursued over a period of years to improve the community, particularly needs that affect low and moderate income persons.

Based on the results of the needs assessment, the city will submit an application to the Montana Department of Commerce for a community development block grant.