These pump houses located in Ballantine near the drain #2 will soon be abandoned once the Worden-Ballantine Water and Sewer District drills their projected wells that will supply water to the communities of Worden and Ballantine, including the Huntley Project School District. This existing infrastructure will be replaced with new infrastructure in the system. The $2.8 Million grant commitment from the County will help assist with phase 4 of the project. (Photo by Jonathan McNiven)
The Worden Ballantine Yellowstone County Water and Sewer District will most likely be the beneficiary of $2.8 million to help fund a $9.5 million water system improvement project.
Yellowstone County Commissioners approved, on Tuesday, a letter to the Montana Infrastructure Advisory Commission, committing the county’s portion of Minimum Allocation Grant Funds to the WBYC District. The funds can only be spent for water and sewer districts.
The funds are part of the funding from the American Recovery Rescue Plan Act that was directed to Yellowstone County by HB 632. Deadline for applications to be sent to the state is July 15. The request from WBYC District is the only one that the county commissioners received for the funds.
The $2.8 million will be matched by the district, and will be applied to fund the last two phases of a costly five-phase effort to bring the district’s water system up to standards. Gary Fredericks, the district board’s representative, said that the ARPA funds from the county and other funds they hope to get in applying directly to the state’s competitive program also established by HB 632, are the district’s only hope of being able to address their water system problems. “The result of having to build a new school coupled with the current water emergency cost burden places our citizens in a financially precarious position,” said Fredericks.
The district’s troubles began in May 2019 when it was discovered that its water source exceeded allowable nitrate standards. Its current water source is contaminated by a combination of nitrates and surface water influences that makes the water unsafe to drink without advanced treatment, and customers, including the Huntley Project Schools, have been forced to drink bottled water for nearly two years.
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