Columbia Falls water system losing about 690,000 gallons of water per day; water rates could go up to fix the problem

By JEREMY WEBER

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls residents could soon be paying more for their water as the city looks to fund much-needed repairs and expansion to its existing system.

In a preliminary engineering report presented to the city council during a workshop Monday evening, Robert Peccia and Associates recommended that the city raise the base rate of its water services between $3 and $4 a month to help fund future upgrades, expansion and repairs.

Columbia Falls currently has one of the lowest monthly base water rates in the state, charging only $15.52.

One of the largest concerns voiced at the meeting was how to deal with an massive and elusive leak somewhere in the city’s water system. To date, all attempts to locate the leak or leaks, which has the system losing more than 50 percent of the water that runs through it, have been unsuccessful.

“Last year, the system was at 52 percent leakage, or 260 gallons per day, per person, or more than two and a half times what a normal number would be. A lot of the improvements and expansion is contingent on us finding and fixing that leakage. It is very important in determining where you are going,” Ryan Mitchell of Robert Peccia and Associates told council.

Currently, the town’s water usage averages 1.32 million gallons per day, almost 690,000 gallons of which are leakage.

The report estimated that, with projected growth in the area, usage could reach an average of 2.56 million gallons per day by 2037, meaning the town would be losing than 1.3 million gallons per day if the current leakage is not fixed.

To help find the leak, the firm proposes putting temporary meters on water lines and monitoring their usage rates during what should be low usage times. Identifying areas using more water than they should would help narrow down the location of the leak until it could be pinpointed and dealt with.

While finding and fixing the leakage would alleviate draw on the system, the report also noted that the current growth rate of the population in the area would force expansion of the system in the next few years anyway.

Columbia Falls currently operates a pair of wells to supply its water, referred to as the Clare Park and LP wells, which feed water to a single 2.2 million gallon storage tank. Water production from the Clare Park well already exceeds the city’s current deep aquifer water rights and the current supply does not meet state Department of Environmental Quality requirements.

“DEQ requires that systems be able to meet the max day of demand with the largest well in the system out of service. Some of the real issues are the water rights and the water demand and also getting enough flow from these wells to meet this DEQ requirement,” Mitchell said.

The report also stated that, without expansion, the city’s current water system will not be able to meet the average daily demand within the next seven years.

What do all these numbers mean for the future of the water system? Robert Peccia and Associates proposes a three-phase approach with an estimated cost of $1.5 million.

Phase one would include increasing the pumping capacity of the existing two wells by installing new pumps and installing a new well. These improvements would involve new pumps, aquifer testing, piping improvements and securing new water rights.

The second phase of the project would involve re-evaluating storage needs one the leaks have been located and fixed. This phase would most likely involve the installation of a new 800,000 gallon storage tank.

The final phase would involve repairs and replacement to parts of the distribution system.

To help fund the project, RPA recommends the city utilize Montana DEQ’s Renewable Resource Grant and Loan program as well as the state revolving loan program. The additional costs would be covered by the base rate increase.

The city plans on holding a pair of public meeting on the subject April 2 and 16. A special meeting could be held April 30 to adopt the engineering report and approve submitting a grant application.

The new water rates, if adopted, would go into effect in July.