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SLWD
The Seeley Lake Water District is approximately forty years old and
was formed to supply water for a small logging community.
Recently, due to the growth of the community, as well as increased
requirements from EPA and Montana DEQ, the Seeley Lake Water District
has had to address the serious deficiencies in our water system. It
was found that our challenges were too great to solve without a
complete upgrade of the entire system. Our goal with this
project is to correct the following challenges that we are facing at
this time. This system upgrade will cost approximately $4.5 million to
complete. It is currently underway and expected to be completed by the
end of July, 2010.
***If you need to visit our offices, please call ahead as road
construction is ongoing.
(406) 677-2559. Thank you for your cooperation.
MONTANA DEQ AND FEDERAL EPA COMPLIANCE ISSUES
Since we pump water from the lake, in 1997 the Water District was
mandated to install a filtration plant at a cost of approximately 2
million dollars. We have been testing our water for quality
assurance since the filtration system began operation in 1999.
Unfortunately, even with the present
filtration system, new requirements for water quality have been added
which we are now failing to meet, putting us out of compliance with
Montana DEQ. DEQ has since turned our results over to EPA and in
May 2008 we received our first EPA violation notice. The main
reason we have failed these tests is due to the high organic load in
the lake. During the chlorine disinfection process, we create
haloacetic acids from the organic products remaining in the filtered
water. The only way to fix this is to change our disinfection
system. We are one of a very few water systems in Montana that
is having difficulty meeting these standards, so EPA is giving us
limited time to comply before they start enforcement actions against
us. With the new system in place, we will use ultraviolet
disinfection, which will do a more complete job and allow us to use
less chlorine in the system.
This should substantially reduce the haloacetic acid production
in the system.
GROSSLY INADEQUATE FIRE PROTECTION
The configuration of our present distribution system does not allow us
to supply adequate fire flows to all areas of our water system.
We do not meet the Insurance Service Office standards for flows on a
normal basis. In the past two years, we have had two structure
fires during which the Fire Department had a difficult time getting
adequate water flows from our hydrants. Two years ago, our community
had a very close call with the Jocko Lakes Fire, as it came within a
mile of the west end of town. Had the fire made it into town,
our system would not have been able to help the fire fighters.
As it was, the fire departments used our system for potable use only,
and it still taxed our system. In addition, DEQ has standards
for pressures in a distribution system, which we fail from time to
time. The new system will provide more than adequate flows and
pressures for the foreseeable future.
INADEQUATE STORAGE
We presently have a 170,000 gallon storage tank, of which we can
actively use only 70,000 gallons. We now have in place a 500,000
gallon storage facility that will give us appropriate storage for
daily use and adequate fire protection when the entire system in on
line this summer (2010).
THE CHALLENGE
Since the average water bill has
jumped about $20.month and the sewer upgrade is projected to be an
additional $85 - $120 per month, or more, it is essential to find
additional sources of funding to allow these needed infrastructure
projects to be completed. Every effort has been made and efforts are
still being made to obtain grant funding from State and Federal
sources to allow these projects to be completed. |
