In the shadow of central Montana’s Crazy Mountains sits Wilsall, a picturesque community of 200 rural residents who – with a little help from USDA Rural Development – now have a safe, reliable water supply.

Nearly six years ago, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) mandated improvements to address nitrate contamination and ensure Wilsall’s two wells met water quality and safety standards. For the last few years, only one of the two wells has been operable. 

“As a possible solution, engineers tried to drill two new test wells up to two miles outside of town, but they couldn’t find a consistently clean water supply,” said Wilsall Water District’s Sadie Collins, who served as the project clerk.

A second option – drilling private, residential wells – was discarded as cost prohibitive. Ultimately, the town settled on a less expensive third option: building a new water treatment facility to remove contaminants from the existing two wells, making them both usable, and effectively doubling Wilsall’s water supply.

Working with Montana’s USDA Rural Development Community Programs team, Wilsall secured nearly $2.6 million in Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants to help pay for the new facility. Construction began in the spring of 2023 and the system came online this January. 

“Rural Development has been great to work with,” said Sadie. “We received an incredibly generous grant. If it hadn’t been for their involvement, we would have had to shut down our treatment facility and drill new individual wells.”

Built more than 30 years ago, the old system relied on chemical water treatments. The new system uses cartridge filtration, ion exchange, and ultraviolet (UV) treatments, which safely and efficiently remove even more contaminants.  Loan and grant funds also helped offset the purchase of a backup generator to keep water flowing during loss of electricity.

Depending on the time of year, the treatment facility pumps anywhere from 10,000 to 120,000 gallons of water each day. Treated water is pumped into the town for immediate use, with the balance stored in a 120,000-gallon tank perched atop a hill overlooking the town.

“The new facility has allowed us to access both of our wells,” said BJ Williams, Wilsall’s part-time plant operator. “This is a great benefit to our town because we have a reliable source of water that is safe to consume.”