Wellhead protection plan passes

POLSON — City council members approved a wellhead protection plan Tuesday night, capping a comment period in which some residents expressed concern that the plan reduced protection of the city's water supply instead of providing more.

However, while the hydrologist hired to help develop the plan and the city's water superintendent agree that the protection areas around the wells will be reduced, they say the plan is based on the best science available, and will provide enhanced protection by better identifying the flow of water around each well.

Roger Noble, an engineer for Land and Water Consulting in Kalispell, presented the plan during a public comment period prior to the Dec. 6 meeting. The plan wasn't very well received at the time, although many residents were in a contentious mood, having shown up to criticize council members later in the meeting for an appearance of a conflict of interest - something Noble didn't anticipate.

Since the last protection plan was implemented in 1994, the city has added wells Nos. 4-7, after losing Hellroaring Creek as a water source. The current plan has been in the development stages for several years, at a cost of more than $20,000, and is in response to what city water superintendent Tony Porrazzo feels will ultimately be a mandate by the state's Dept. of Environmental Quality requiring one in the future.

Noble and Porrazzo attempted to allay residents' concerns that the plan would reduce protection of the city's water supply, saying that studies conducted by Noble show that the plan would simply protect existing water flow while freeing up additional land around the wells for other use - land they say doesn't affect the wells' water. However, further discussion of the plan, and a vote on it, was tabled until the Jan. 3 meeting in response to residents' concerns.

Earlier this month, Noble again outlined his feeling that the plan was based on the best possible science, saying data collection techniques have drastically improved in the decade since the last plan was approved. Resident Elsa Duford expressed concern that prior hydrology studies showed the potential for well contamination if protection areas didn't exist or were contracted, but Noble said the more recent data is more reliable, and therefore creates a more accurate protection area.

The ordinance passed on its second reading Tuesday night, and will become law in 30 days. Mayor Randy Ingram told council members the county commissioners passed a resolution of intent to adopt the plan at last week's commissioners' meeting.

"This (plan) was a great effort between the city and county. It's based on the best possible science," Porrazzo said after the meeting. "We now know better where and how the water flows through the land. We're better defining the protection area. And in about six years, we'll go through this again to update the current plan, and we'll use the best available science to do it."

In other city council news:

City parks superintendent Karen Sargeant updated the council on plans to create another skate park, after the one located on Montana Rail Link property was torn down last November. She said a committee of interested skaters, bike riders and roller bladers is already at work on fundraising ideas, and will meet Thursday night in city council chambers to go over action items.

Sargeant said the former skate park made Polson a "destination spot" for skateboard and bike enthusiasts all over Western Montana, and encouraged attendees to consider the benefit of increased tourism to local businesses.

"It's (skateboarding) not a fad. It's here to stay. It's a booming business that could bring a lot of business to a small town," she said.