Boulder’s City Council took one step at its July 15 meeting, and deferred one other, aimed at ensuring the safety and reliability of the city’s water supply, which has been compromised for nearly 15 years.
The Council voted to formally abandon the existing Well Four, located near Little League Park, and construct a replacement on nearby city property. Well Four was originally disconnected in 2010 due to detected copper excesses, and will be decommissioned in the coming months as part of Boulder’s two-phased well construction and system improvement effort.
“I think this sets us up for a more predictable future with regards to reliability” said Ellie Schmeltzer in an address to the city council. Schmeltzer, a project engineer with Helena-based engineering firm Morrison Maierle, leads technical planning for Boulder’s water project. “This allows us to keep some consistency between all our new well construction, and avoid some of the uncertainties with renovating the existing well.”
Among water quality and scope of work concerns, new residential buildings built around Well Four since its original construction jeopardize compliance with Montana state law. Wells serving city municipalities are required to have a 100-foot “setback,” or isolation zone, from buildings and other potential contaminant sources.
Constructing a new well, Schmeltzer said, will allow Boulder to avoid legal uncertainties that could have surfaced had it simply repaired the existing well, at an anticipated total cost of $186,500. At the city council meeting, Morrison Maierle formally received approval to solicit bids for the new well’s construction.
“Having control over how and where the new well is constructed, by going with new construction, is a really solid move,” said Schmeltzer.
During the meeting, the City Council also deferred a decision regarding a second amendment to the water systems improvement project, which would have committed the city to one of two sites being considered for another new well construction (Well Five and Well Six). That work would replace the city’s Well Three, which was determined to be contaminated in 2020, and was shut down the following year.
Well Five, which is located on the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) state headquarters campus and has already been successfully confirmed by a test well, would require an easement, an agreement between a land owner and another party for use and access to a property for specifically outlined purposes, from the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), who administer the MHP campus, in order for Boulder to drill the well and connect it to existing public pipelines.
Boulder Mayor Rusty Giulio confirmed that draft easement language has been received from DPHHS and is presently being reviewed by City Attorney Ed Guza. Once a final agreement has been reached between Boulder and DPHHS, the Montana State Board of Land Commissioners will issue final approval, most likely within a month of receiving the proposal from involved parties.The alternative site, Well Six, sits just west of the Elkhorn Treatment Center, on property controlled by Jefferson County. An easement would also be necessary in order to construct the well there, but has already been tentatively agreed to by Jefferson County officials. The Well Six site could come into play if an agreement on Well Five fails to materialize, or if the city eventually decides to construct wells on both sites.
“We’ve invested significantly with the test well and the engineering we’ve put towards Well Five,” said Schmeltzer. “We’ve yet to do a full evaluation with the potential Well Six site. But both are on government property, so there’s some protection in that. But Well Six also has some attractive properties to it. For the most part, other than not knowing what exactly we’re going to get for production from Well Six, the sites are pretty apples to apples.”
