Kalispell approves emergency water restrictions ordinance

Facing a potential water shortage, Kalispell City Council on Tuesday enacted an emergency ordinance that could place restrictions on watering and irrigation this summer.

The ordinance provides the city manager the authority to implement water restrictions, if necessary, based upon water usage levels and availability of water at city facilities. As an emergency ordinance, it would expire in 90 days.

Public Works Director Susie Turner says the goal of the ordinance is to encourage voluntary conservation to reduce the risk of activating restrictions but it remains prudent to prepare for shortages to ensure water service.

“The current status of the City of Kalispell’s water system is that we may not be able to meet some of the anticipated average and peak day demands from irrigation this summer,” she said. “Some of those reasons include that we’re down one water source and we’re not able to finish the new construction for the newer sources to provide additional sources throughout this summer.”

“We thought it was prudent and necessary to institute immediate water conservation and water restrictions protocols to ensure that we can provide the necessary water and fire flow services from our system,” she added.

Mayor Mark Johnson reiterated that the restrictions would be temporary. He pointed out that the city has had a plan in place for water conservation following the Noffisinger Spring water source being taken offline in 2021. He added that the city had planned to have a replacement water source completed, but that’s not expected to be ready until next summer.

“This is a one-summer deal,” he said of the possible water restrictions.

Councilor Chad Graham supported the ordinance, saying that at its base level it focuses on education and encouraging conservation.

“Hopefully the conservation can go on beyond this summer,” he said. “I support this because I can certainly understand that this is because we had a well go down. Our staff finds it prudent to keep our water to certain standards that they bring this to us and we should support that.”

Councilor Sid Daoud, who was the only vote against the ordinance, said he opposes it because it’s “centered on the use of government force to police and penalize its citizens after excessive water use this summer.”

“We have not given the public the chance to be educated and voluntarily conserve water,” he said. “All the steps the city can take in conserving its own water use, as well as educating the public, the bulk of the ordinance can be taken without implementing an emergency ordinance.”

UNDER THE first stage of water protocols, the city would encourage voluntary conservation measures for customers and work to educate them on the need for and ways to conserve water. City parks would follow conservation measures by reducing watering schedules, duration and times.

Turner says the city has already begun implementing some of the measures, including water conservation measures at city parks.

“The city will be proactively implementing water conservation practices to reduce irrigation demands from city facilities and participating in public outreach to educate water customers on irrigation conservation best practices,” she noted.

During discussion, Councilor Jed Fisher said he supports the conservation and education efforts.

“It’s wise and preventative,” he said. “And the education work that you’re doing is also going to be helpful. I think this is a good move.”

If the city enters stage two, all customers would be required to follow water restrictions. That move would be based on water usage demands and if there is a loss of any city water sources.

“This is a worst-case scenario that we put in as a precaution,” Turner said. “We only implement these restrictions if it becomes necessary and these would be temporary.”

Under stage two, water and irrigation would be restricted to designated days based on the last digit of the street address for the property — odd number addresses would water on odd days of the calendar month and even numbers on even days. Watering could only be done once per day between 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Restrictions would not apply to low-volume drip irrigation and hand watering when watering trees, shrubs, ornamental plants, annual flowers and food gardens.

If stage three occurs, then all outdoor water uses would be prohibited, including in city parks.

Anyone found to be violating the water conservation restrictions would first receive a notice. On the second violation, they could be fined $250.

Upon a third violation, the city may discontinue water service after notifying the customer three days prior. Water service would not be restored until the fees charged for reconnecting the water service and any outstanding fine is paid.

KALISPELL IN 2018 completed a water facility plan update to identify system challenges and provide a roadmap for addressing those issues. However, the plan for adding new water sources and storage was based upon a 2% growth rate in the city. The past several years have seen an overall 3% annual growth rate.

Kalispell’s water supply comes from 11 groundwater sources within the city limits that supply the system and four storage reservoirs.

However, one of the facilities, Noffsinger Spring, was taken offline because while the water source is safe, the facility’s condition no longer provides the necessary protections against exposures to environmental elements, according to the city.

The city is working to replace the water from Noffsinger Spring but construction on that project isn’t set to begin until the fall of this year. The Upper Zone Storage Tower and Wells project is in the design phase and construction is set to begin in the spring of 2023.

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.