Mayor's Corner

by Rusti Leivestad, Thompson Falls Mayor

Thompson Falls city water system is part of the original water system built for the railroad in the late 1800’s. The City’s water supply system consists of a spring supply source (Ashley Creek watershed), two operating water wells, two concrete storage reservoirs, transmission mains and the distribution system. A Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) in 2005 showed the existing water supply had adequate capacity to serve the community through 2025. (This projection was based on the service at that time being about 625 users and we are currently serving almost 750 users). The focus in the last 10 years has been main replacement to reduce leakage, and replacement of the main connection between the two storage tanks which had rocks in it that impeded flow.

While there have been significant upgrades to the system over the years, we are faced with an inadequate water supply and distribution system. An additional 500 gallons per minute of source capacity is needed to meet DEQ requirements. The City’s distribution system consists of many undersized and leaking water mains, and some sections of dead ends.

The Thompson Falls Water Supply, Storage and Distribution Improvements Project is in the final Planning and Design phase which is estimated to be complete in July 2024, bidding phase to be completed by October 2024, and construction completed by October 2025. This next phase is to address supply and storage to meet requirements and mains that are old, leak and are not able to meet needed fire flows. The City has been operating under an exemption for storage; this project was needed to correct that.

The Montana State University Extension website has publications that can help answer individual questions and give you ideas for your lawns/gardens. For example, some of their suggestions: water in the early morning and early evening when evaporation is lowest. Lawns watered under hot midday sun lose as much as 30% of applied water to evaporation. Established lawns only need 1 to 2 inches of water every 3-5 days. I have a couple of publications here at the office that I’d be happy to share with anyone that wants to come in for a copy.

What this all means to Thompson Falls residents is it matters that we are mindful of our water usage especially during the upcoming months when we are watering lawns and gardens. Being aware and careful of where and when we water can go a long way towards protecting our water supply. The past couple of years we’ve had to resort to rationing to odd/even days of watering. We hope to avoid that by everyone being aware of how they are using water. It does “take a village”. The bonus is you just might find your water bill is less.

I’ll keep you updated and as always, please call if you have comments or questions.

**A portion of this column quotes information from the Capital Improvements Plan, February 2020.