ASRWSS Continues Safe And Reliable Water Service During Coronavirus Epidemic Amid Record Breaking Water Delivery

Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System general manager Ashleigh Weeks reported to the Northern Plains Independent that “the Eagle Shield Water Treatment Plant and other facilities of ASRWSS continue to function normally during the coronavirus crisis. Water treatment plant operators, field staff and office staff continue taking sound protective measures to avoid infection and are performing their regular duties. Water users will continue to receive safe, adequate and reliable water deliveries.”

The board of directors of ASRWSS has been very active in monitoring COVID-19 within the reservation and the state. ASRWSS is following CDC guidelines to ensure a safe workplace for its employees and has been in contact with IHS and county health department officials. If there is concern of exposure staff are quarantined for 14 days.

“This has not been much of an issue to date, but we want to make sure the staff are protected and can perform their duties without interference by the virus. As an essential service, ASRWSS will continue to provide clean water to the businesses, hospitals, places of worship, schools and residents of the Fort Peck Reservation,” said Bill Whitehead, chairman of the board.

Weeks provided the following press release from EPA (carried by the Northern Plains Independent earlier) to assure residents in northeastern Montana that their tap water is not a source of infection: “There is no higher priority for EPA than protecting the health and safety of Americans. EPA is providing this important information about COVID-19 as it relates to drinking water and wastewater to provide clarity to the public. The COVID-19 virus has not been detected in drinking-water supplies. Based on current evidence, the risk to water supplies is low. Americans can continue to use and drink water from their tap as usual.”

Weeks said that construction during 2020 is in full swing with two-man and three-man crews on the East and West sides of the Poplar River on the Fort Peck Reservation. Macon Construction and Bridges Construction are the principal contractors:

•By mid-July, 73 connections had been made to individual homes in the south half of the eastern half of the Reservation between the Poplar River and Big Muddy River where branch line construction is completed, tested and disinfected. An additional 58 connections should be completed by late summer to finish the project and serve an estimated 300 people.

•Branch lines in the north half of the east half of the reservation between the Poplar River and Big Muddy River will be completed this summer, and connections to 214 individual homes, including Reserve, will be made in the fall until winter shutdown. Connections will serve about 450 people in this eastern rural area.

•The main pipeline between Wolf Point and Lustre is under construction west of the Poplar River. The mainline will serve four phases of branch lines that will eventually complete the rural water system within the Reservation and serve the remaining 1,050 residents between the Poplar River and Porcupine Creek.

•Phase 1 of the branch line construction will begin this summer and continue until winter shutdown. The area is between Wolf Creek and the Poplar River in Roosevelt and Valley counties.

“The landowners on the east and west sides of the reservation continue to help us by providing easements”, Weeks said. “We are finished with that process on the east side and are working with very helpful people on the west side. The response is very good, and everyone should know that I appreciate it. The virus has prevented staff from direct contact with landowners, but workarounds are highly successful. We have procedures to ensure safe-distancing, and landowners and notaries are executing the easements.”

In 2020, ASRWSS will provide drinking water to more than 21,000 residents in northeast Montana, including government agencies, Poplar Schools, Poplar hospital, Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Union Trading Post National Historic site, as well as the towns of Poplar, Wolf Point, Frazer, Brockton, Fort Kipp, Reserve and Lustre on the Fort Peck Reservation.

The ASRWSS Eagle Shield Water Treatment Plant also delivers water to Dry Prairie for Culbertson, Bainville, Froid, Medicine Lake, Plentywood, Nashua and St Marie. Joni Sherman, manager of Dry Prairie, has said previously that Dry Prairie will be serving Scobey, Flaxville and Westby. Dry Prairie will serve over 10,000 people in our towns and rural areas.

Whitehead said, “ASRWSS and Dry Prairie will likely receive enough funding in FY 2021 to finish the funding process in FY 2022. The House provided a good markup in July, and we expect a similar markup in the Senate later in the year. Our project remains at the highest priority for the Congressional Appropriation Subcommittees and the Bureau of Reclamation. ASRWSS will be the first to finish construction in the current generation of rural water projects. Construction will be completed in 2023.” Weeks also commented on water deliveries, “The treatment plant has produced about 170 million gallons so far this water year (October through June) compared with about 165 million gallons in the same time frame in FY 2019. We expect significant increases this fall as the east side of the reservation becomes more fully connected and Dry Prairie adds Scobey and Westby.”