Over 38,000 bottles were donated on Monday to the community of Worden and Ballantine during their water contamination issue. Special thanks to Ted Tallon (blue plaid) and Kristi Dellos (back right) at Costco who transported a semi full of 20 pallets of water to the community on behalf of six businesses. Board member Joey Oltrogge (grey hoodie) is heading up the outreach with the help of district manager, Dan Krum (far left). The shipment had come just in time as the previous stores of bottled water had dropped to less than half of one pallet. “This will be such a huge help,” said Joey.
(Photo by Jonathan D. McNiven)
“We are currently distributing bottled water to over 350 homes,” said Worden-Ballantine Yellowstone County Water and Sewer District board member Joey Oltrogge. Joey, having recently taken over the volunteer distribution of water from board member Gary Fredericks, has been working hard to ensure that the families affected by the increased nitrate concentration in the drinking water will have access to clean water.
This has led her to reach out to various companies for donations in the past to help with the cost of providing the water. This week, 960 cases of water were donated by Kris O’Bleness with Norpac Sheet Metal, Tony Achten with Thermax Insulation LLC, Mark Jones with Star Services, Matt Mikkelson with Swank Enterprises, Nathan Malek with Vemco Inc, and Chris Fischer with Allied Control and Mechanical.
With the help of Ted Tallon and Kristi Dellos at Costco, a semi-truck loaded full of 20 pallets of bottled water was delivered Monday morning, to the Worden Ballantine Yellowstone County Water and Sewer District. “We’ve never received a shipment this large,” commented Joey. “We’re very grateful to Mike Reiter for his skills with a forklift!” This donation came just in time as they had depleted the previous donation down to less than half of one single pallet. Every Saturday, a pallet of water will be distributed to the community until they run out. However, another donation is already scheduled for a later date from the local Project Mercantile.
The water pollution issue dates back to the summer of 2019. According the Montana DEQ, the current water treatment methods in place were not capable of dealing with some surface water pathogens. The water was discovered to be contaminated with a high level of nitrates. High nitrate levels can be fatal to infants and dangerous for adults, causing several health issues including nausea, fever, and diarrhea. Unfortunately, simply boiling the water doesn’t resolve the issue. In fact, boiling the water actually increases the nitrate levels even further.
The water source in question has been used for roughly 50 years. While finding the source of the surface water intrusion is a difficult task, steps are being taken to resolve the issue.
