Sun Prairie Village County Water and Sewer District is working to repair its water system.
This week, the district had Inland Potable Services doing repairs in the clearwell reservoir that did not hold and residents were asked to limit water usage while the issue was addressed.
By Tuesday morning, the district had one pump back online while Inland continued working on getting the other piping in the reservoir repaired and residents were asked to continue limiting water usage to allow storage to build back up.
By Tuesday afternoon, the district was back to two booster pumps and water usage could return to normal.
In a post, the district board said that the intake piping from the reservoir to the pump station, is old, as is the entire system.
One of the intake pipes broke previously, limiting pump operation, according to the district.
On July 1, another pipe broke and Inland was on site to repair the break, but was setback due to the piping condition and available repair methods, according to the district.
The district hired Inland to make the repairs since it doesn’t have the resources to enter the water tank properly to make the repairs, according to the board.
The board applied in May for funding from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation after holding a public meeting in April to discuss the findings of a preliminary engineering report.
Sun Prairie Village County Water and Sewer District supplies water to about 1,188 customers through four groundwater wells treated with a reverse osmosis system prior to disinfection, according to the district’s DNRC application.
A semi-buried 450,000-gallon reservoir, also known as a clearwell, provides storage and serves as the chlorine contact basin. A pump station discharges treated water into the distribution system and into the second 85,000-gallon reservoir, a ground surface reservoir located at elevation, according to the grant application.
The treatment system and distribution mains are in good condition but the semi-buried reservoir has a deteriorating roof support structure, hairline cracks throughout the concrete walls, and a gap between the reservoir wall and the roof around the entire structure.
Pumps in the pump station have been in service for nearly 50 years and the pump station building is a primitive structure made of wood with steel siding and roofing with inadequate insulation, according to the application, and replacement parts for the pump station’s electrical system are hard to find.
The ground surface reservoir leaks and lacks cathodic protection and the four groundwater wells lack security fence.
The district is proposing to repair and replace structural roof supports, repair cracks in the walls and install a screen to close the gap between the wall and roof of the semi-buried reservoir; replace the pump station components and building; repair existing leaks, reseal and add cathodic protection to the ground surface reservoir; and install security fencing around the four wells, according to their application.
The district requested $125,000 of DNRC grant funds and will match with $211,300 for a total estimated project cost of $223,800.
