Water project moving along as planned
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In October, construction began on the Ronan Water System Improvements Program, which involves a new well and booster station to hold more water. The 600 gallon-per-minute well will provide Ronan with adequate fire flow around the Ronan School, while the 250,000 gallon booster station will house water to help with major fire events.
The primarily grant-funded project will cost $4,845,000, but according to Lake County Community Development Corporation project manager Roland Godan, recent grants and funding sources will cover project expenses.
The project was open for national bids, but Montana company Intermountain Construction Services out of Butte was chosen. Lake County Community Development Corporation obtained grant funding, and are managing the project with the city of Ronan.
“It’s prudent to jump on funding when available,” Godan said. “If the funding source was not there, a bond or loan would need to be taken out. This project is a great upgrade; it keeps Ronan moving along with the rest of the country in terms of water quality.”
The water source will come from a newly drilled well near the Ronan Fairgrounds on Third Avenue Northwest. The 380-foot well had 840,000 gallons of water pumped through during the flushing and test process. According to Godan, the well was shallower than anticipated, which resulted in a credit to the project of $12,255.56, which will likely be used on additional water main replacement.
Since the project is grant-funded, project leaders can only redistribute money, and the project must be completed with the initial dollar amount.
“We break it up into phases,” Godan said. “It’s like building a house; the last thing to go in is the hot tub.”
The aquifer tapped for the project is a massive one, stretching from Missoula to Whitefish. Many wells throughout the area also utilize this source, which is why a hydrologist came in to test the well to ensure the new well doesn’t negatively effect the rest of the users.
“We have excellent water here in Ronan,” Ronan Fire Chief Mark Clary said. “The project will improve our water system and how much we can handle, plus more (water) storage.”
According to Clary, the water main line will run north and south along Third Avenue Northwest. The project has allowed for improvement of water lines, as workers were able to loop some of the lines that were dead ends, resulting in a better volume of water supply.
“I’m quite happy with how things are going,” Clary noted. “If there is a major fire event, we will be able to put out a lot of water.”
There are 37 contract days of the original 75 remaining in this phase and consolidation of construction tasks is essential to maintain the contract deadline, according to Clary.
Work at the booster station behind St. Luke Community Hospital is right on schedule despite a few setbacks. The main issue the project has experienced was a change order because subsurface material where the booster station went contained “dirty fill” that contained debris not suitable for the foundation of the booster station, which had to be dug out and replaced with “clean fill,” leading to a change order.
“You never know what you’re going to find when you’re digging, or the quality of the soil,” Godan said.
Economic impacts directly resulting from the project are significant for the city.
“It brings money into our local economy, within our town and region,” Godan said. “From trucking costs, wages and taxes on wages, this project is a standard model of what a project can do for local economy.”
The $4.8 million project equates to the same revenue as 40 $125,000 homes constructed in Ronan.
“It’s a loose expression, but it puts perspective (on) the scale of these projects,” Godan said.
According to Clary, the project is expected to be complete by March or April.