Central Montana Regional

Water Authority

The Central Montana RC&D Board of Directors pledged its support several years ago of a municipal water project involving nine small communities in our area. Organizers of the project, including Central Montana RC&D Coordinator Monty Sealey, have been dreaming of such a project for years. Thanks to funding from the Montana Coal Board for a test well and an appropriation through DNRC for the follow-up testing, the project is looking like it could be more than a pipe dream!

A test well was drilled near Utica, Montana, in 2003 and was tested for quality and quantity in late 2005. The engineers on the test well project have publicly reported the water quality is "excellent," and the quantity sufficient to turn this test well into a production well.

The history of the project goes back to the late 1990s, when the Town of Roundup was contacted by a former Lewistown City Manager about buying water from Big Springs. Lewistown is blessed with some of the purest water in the world from the Big Springs that bubble to the surface from the Madison Aquifer in the foothills of the Big Snowy Mountains. Although the logistics and expense of pumping the water from Big Springs over the mountain to Roundup prevented the idea from moving forward, it did spur Roundup officials to consider other alternatives. Spearheaded by Central Montana RC&D and Musselshell County, organizational meetings were held with other local communities that have this in common: poor water and/or not enough of it.

After consulting with geologists, a plan was conceived to drill a test well into the Madison Aquifer to potentially provide municipal water for a group of towns along the Musselshell drainage. The Montana Coal Board granted $500,000 in two rounds to the project. The location of the test well evolved as negotiations with landowners fell through, and the final location for the test well is a site on State Lands right across the highway from the tiny unincorporated town of Utica.

The test well was drilled in 2003, and the group of interested municipalities formed a water authority, which formally organized in September 2004.  The Central Montana Regional Water Authority includes representatives from Hobson, Broadview, Judith Gap, Harlowton, Ryegate, Lavina, Roundup and Melstone, and is led by chairman Dale Longfellow of Hobson.

The group received a two-year appropriation through DNRC to complete a feasibility on the test well. Great West Engineering and Western Groundwater Services were awarded the contract to determine the water quality and quantity testing in July 2005. Boland Water Services conducted the pump test in November and December 2005, and CMRWA members are thrilled with the results. The test well goes 3,700 feet into the Madison Aquifer. During the pump test, four area wells were monitored and none showed any drawdown during the pumping. Lewistown city officials are watching the project closely, and are installing their own monitoring system at Big Springs. Both Big Springs and the test well's source is the Madison Aquifer, however, the recharge area for Big Springs are the Big Snowy Mountains, while the Utica site is recharged by the Little Belts.

A second production well will likely be drilled if funding is appropriated, and will provide water for 5,000 in the service area, with approximately 2,250 hookups. The water would be piped to towns in the CMRWA and is to be used for domestic and livestock use, not irrigation.  The system requirement would be about 1,200 gallons per minute. Currently, many of the small communities have either no public water system, or operate their own water systems that are plagued by persistent drought and/or water of very poor quality. The test well results indicate that the water from the Madison Aquifer would not require treatment. 

The next step is to apply for a water right and to seek federal appropriation. The estimated cost of the project is $45 to $50 million. For more information about the project, contact Central Montana RC&D Coordinator, Monty Sealey, at (406) 323-2755 or CMRWA Chairman Dale Longfellow at (406) 423-5428.

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