Musselshell water project awarded $37M in federal funding for phase 2 to Roundup

“With local match from our ratepayers and (Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) Coal Trust Regional Water funds, we should be able to complete Phase II in 2023-24,” Monty Sealey, project administrator for the Central Montana Regional Water Authority, wrote in an email. “We have begun our environmental and cultural review activities, securing easements, etc., and will soon begin actual project design; then bidding.”

The total of $1.2 trillion in authorized spending also includes $57.5 million for Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System for the Chippewa Cree Tribe, Havre, Tiber, Big Sandy and Loma. Another $7 million will go to the Fort Peck Reservation/Dry Prairie Rural Water System.

These funds are only the first round of $1 billion in total funding to complete all authorized rural water projects through the Bureau of Reclamation. In all, the act will appropriate about $194 million for the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Water System, $56 million for the Musselshell-Judith Water System and $17 million for the Fort Peck/Dry Prairie Water System.

“These rural water systems are essential to growing communities and creating jobs in central and eastern Montana,” said Sen. Jon Tester in a statement announcing his vote supporting the act.

Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Matt Rosendale, Montana’s two Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C., voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act saying it was an unnecessary expansion of the federal debt. Daines has supported previous federal rural water system allocations.

Work this summer should finish up the $17 million first phase of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System by piping water into the homes of Harlowton residents. The water is pumped from 24 miles away where three wells were drilled near the communities of Utica, Ubet and Garneill.

Phase two will move the pipeline east from Harlowton along the Musselshell River valley all the way to Roundup. Along the way, other small communities would also be connected to the system including Shawmut, Ryegate and Lavina.

Sealey said with the phase two money coming out of the infrastructure bill, rather than normal budget funding, the Musselshell-Judith project probably fared better.

“Without those monies, we likely would have ranked quite a bit lower and received less funding,” he wrote. “We are one of the latest Regional Water Projects authorized by Congress, so without this new funding we would be one of the last to receive much more limited (Bureau of Reclamation) funds.”

When completed, the $87 million pipeline will extend 250 miles and serve about 5,000 to 7,500 rural and town residents in nine communities, ending at Melstone.

Existing water supplies serving communities along the Musselshell River suffer from high levels of minerals, nitrates and sulfates. Roundup gets its water from an old coal mine. Melstone’s supply dwindles in drought years. Flooding of the Musselshell River has destroyed existing pipelines. Harlowton’s water supply is also threatened by an underground benzene plume, and the town has been working to replace 80-year-old leaky water pipes. The well water for the new project will only need to be chlorinated. Much of the new pipeline will be gravity fed.

Five other states qualified for the $420 million in funding for rural water projects, including Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“Providing this project-specific funding underscores the Administration’s commitment to help rural and Tribal communities access safe drinking water and the water treatment infrastructure they deserve,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. “With a $4.6 billion investment over five years for aging water infrastructure and rural water projects, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ensures that rural and Tribal communities receive adequate assistance and support.”

Allocations for projects are based on project plans and significant accomplishments that are projected to be completed with the funding, as well as the capability of recipients to implement the work quickly.

Of the total allocation, $32 million is held in reserve to be distributed throughout the fiscal year to address potential increases in construction costs.