HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The City of Havre’s Public Works Department is continuing to ask residents to conserve water.
Public Works Director Dave Peterson says that although the water supply is in adequate shape at the moment after critical issue with a main transmission line was fixed last month, they are facing staffing and chemical shortages and many water lines are susceptible to problems.
Currently, outdoor watering is prohibited in Havre from 10 AM-6 PM, and people are asked to limit outdoor watering to no more than three days a week.
“Everybody is in this thing together. We all need to work together to make sure we keep water for everybody. So we are going to stay with those restrictions through the end of the water season, and those restrictions might become more restrictive as we move forward just depending on what’s going on.”
Peterson says the city is working on applying for grant funding through COVID relief programs, and is hopeful that they will be able to repair some of Havre’s water infrastructure.
“One of the things that we are looking at with that ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding, of course, is we want to complete our replacement of our lead water lines. That’s going to be a requirement from the federal government by 2024 that you have a plan in place to do that, and completed by 2026. So with this ARPA funding, we should hopefully be ahead of that schedule. That’s going to be one of the applications that we put in for.
Peterson says there are still 100-140 lead service lines that are within the city. Typically, these are replaced by property owners, but with the funding guidelines and federal regulations, it is now the responsibility of the city to replace the lead lines.
“These are service lines that go to individual houses. Some of the older ones are still lead lines. They don’t necessarily have any issues with lead. We test so many of those lead lines every three years according to the state requirements for lead and we don’t see any traces of lead in the line. But if you were to do something with that line to scour it or something where you would get back down to the lead, you could possibly see issues. But we don’t have those issues here.”
If funding is obtained, the lead lines would be replaced with copper or plastic lines.
Another project they are looking at is to obtain funding for a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER), with applications due by mid-August.
“(This is) for our water distribution and sewer collection systems. (This would) allow us to get an engineer on board, and then we start looking at the distribution system and looking at the areas that are most needed for replacement…We’re also looking at ARPA funding to help with the repairs of the west tank that we had a column failure inside the tank that we are in the process of trying to get replaced, hopefully this fall. If we don’t get the ARPA funding for that, then we’ll look at using some of the funds that the city got through COVID relief to take care of that issue this fall.”
