This issue is of particular importance to my state because we have so many small and rural communities that struggle every year to pay for water and wastewater improvements. Many of these communities have seen their rates spike dramatically in recent years as their cities and counties install costly new equipment. For example, the City of Helena, Montana has seen costs rise by more than 60%.
The City not long ago constructed the Tenmile Surface Water Treatment Plant to address their long-term needs. However, because of recent drought conditions, fires and the potential for contamination of the Tenmile raw water supply due to mining within the basin, the water supply from the Tenmile Treatment Plant is at risk and is insufficient in quantity to serve the City of Helena.
The City has an alternative supply with their older Missouri River Water Treatment Plant. However, the facility has significant problems with insufficient wetwell capacity, the poor condition of its filtration equipment, inoperable controls and unsafe working conditions. These problems place the City at risk of not meeting the surface water treatment rule.
In order for the City to upgrade the Missouri River facility, they are faced with a significant capital investment. Unfortunately, the money the City spent on the newer Tenmile Water Treatment Plant places the City in a very high category for residential water rates. In fact, the City is one of the higher cost water service providers in the State of Montana. As such, the City council is reluctant to raise water rates to higher levels.
The City of Helena is just one example that I'm sure is repeated throughout Montana and the nation. This leads to the fundamental question of how do we help these communities provide safe drinking water for their communities, and protect the environment, without gutting their limited financial resources? More importantly, where and how should the federal government direct its resources to achieve this goal. In Montana, for example, a great deal of the money available for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements comes in the form of loans, rather than grants. This places a heavy burden on small communities that do not have a large customer base to more easily absorb the costs of these loans.
I look forward to hearing the testimony of the witnesses on these issues. I think we can all agree that the need for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements is compelling.