Water Source & Treatment Capacity Expansion

Introduction/History

The City of Whitefish currently operates a Water Treatment Plant (WTP) that treats water from Haskill Creek and Whitefish Lake.  While there are 4 – 1 MGD filters in the plant, the firm capacity is rated by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) at 3.0 MGD, which requires that one filter be taken out of service.  Although this may only be a concern for a few days a year during peak demand season, DEQ has required the city to apply for a deviation to operate above our firm capacity in order to allow any water main extension, subdivision, or future growth.   This deviation is only a temporary solution, and the final solution will require an increase in the treatment capacity of the water plant.

The City selected Morrison-Maierle, Inc. (MMI) to design and oversee construction for the planned water source and treatment capacity expansion project.   In addition to the actual expansion of our water treatment plant, there are several other elements that will need to be accomplished to expand capacity.  These projects include:  

  • Expansion of the Whitefish Lake Intake Pump Station 
  • Installation of a Parallel Water Main to the Water Treatment Plant
  • Extension of the City’s Sanitary Sewer to the Water Plan

Swank Enterprises was awarded the project, work will begin on August 10, 2020.

Winter Update 2020

Construction is well underway at the water treatment plant.  The largest inconvenience to the public is now complete as Northwestern Energy has finished the relocation of their natural gas facilities in Reservoir Road along with the installation of the deep sanitary sewer.  Additional work in Reservoir Road is required next spring to construct a large distribution watermain to handle the increased capacity of the plant, however this work is not expected to require the same delays as the construction that took place this fall.  Temporary asphalt trench patches will be placed this fall and permanent roadway repairs will be completed next year upon completion of the watermain construction.   The new contact adsorption clarifiers are expected to arrive in December along with the precast wall and roof panels for the building expansion.  Installation of the clarifiers will allow the wall and roof panels to go up so Swank can continue work through the winter.  Permanent stabilization of the slope has been completed with drilled soil anchors and the creek bypass work has been completed.  Both of these tasks were required to allow for the expanded building footprint.   To date To date, Swank has billed $1.1M of a $9.3M contract.