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Corps seeks public comment on water system improvements in Power-Teton County, Montana

Published March 12, 2020

POWER, Mont. – A proposal to improve the water distribution system for the Power-Teton County Water and Sewer District is currently available for public comment through April 13, 2020.

Proposed improvements include drilling or digging shallow municipal wells and building a new pump house on property owned by the Water and Sewer District, approximately three miles southwest of the town of Power.  A new pump station and transmission main are also included to convey the ground water to the existing distribution system. 

The public is encouraged to provide comments on the draft environmental assessment which can be downloaded at: www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Planning/Project-Reports/. Comments can be mailed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District; CENWO-PMA-C; ATTN: Chris Weber, Power-Teton County EA; 1616 Capitol Avenue; Omaha, NE 68102-4901. Comments can also be emailed to: cenwo-planning@usace.army.mil. Comments must be postmarked or received no later than April 13, 2020.

BACKGROUND: The proposed action is necessary to correct deficiencies in the existing system in order to provide a clean and consistent water supply to the town of Power. The current water right does not allow the District to divert water if flows in Muddy Creek are below defined flow rates.  There is no source water protection plan or watershed survey, putting the District’s water source at increased risk of contamination. Large settling and storage basins have not been used in years due to maintenance problems and caused corrosion of piping and valves, clogging of the pumps, and frequent treatment train failures.  The District has also experienced a variety of problems with the raw water intake as the diversion dam has been damaged several times.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ funding for this project is authorized under Section 595 of the 1999 Water Resources Development Act, as amended. This authority allows the Corps to participate in projects for wastewater treatment, water supply, and related facilities in Idaho, Montana, rural Nevada, New Mexico, rural Utah and Wyoming. Design and construction assistance is provided only for projects that are owned by public entities and project costs are shared 75% federal contribution and 25% non-federal contribution.


Contact
Omaha District Public Affairs
402-995-2417

Release no. 20-019