$37 million of federal infrastructure funding goes to Montana water project

(UC) — The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide $37 million for phase two of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System project in Montana, the Billings Gazette reported.

“With local match from our ratepayers and (Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) Coal Trust Regional Water funds, we should be able to complete Phase II in 2023-24,” Monty Sealey, project administrator for the Central Montana Regional Water Authority, wrote in an email, according to the Billings Gazette.

The authority has begun its environmental and cultural review activities, securing easements and similar activities, and will soon begin actual project design before bidding begins, Sealey said.

The bill’s $1.2 trillion in authorized spending includes $57.5 million for other Montana water systems, including Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System for the Chippewa Cree Tribe, Havre, Tiber, Big Sandy and Loma, the article states. Another $7 million will go to the Fort Peck Reservation/Dry Prairie Rural Water System, according to the Billings Gazette.

This money is part of the first round of $1 billion that will fund authorized rural water projects throughout the Bureau of Reclamation, the largest wholesaler of water in the country that provides water to more than 31 million people in 17 western states.

“These rural water systems are essential to growing communities and creating jobs in central and eastern Montana,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said in a statement, the Billings Gazette reported.

The Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System’s first phase should be completed this summer, when it will pipe water into the homes of Harlowton residents from wells drilled 24 miles away. Phase two will bring the pipeline further east to Roundup, connecting to smaller communities along the way, according to the article.

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