Kalispell moving forward with well replacement despite funding uncertainty

Kalispell officials say they are still uncertain whether the city will receive federal dollars to replace two wells contaminated by forever chemicals but are forging ahead with the project.  

President Donald Trump last week ordered a temporary freeze on all federal grant and loan programs. While the move was temporarily blocked by federal judges, the order could affect local governments and programs across the country who rely on the programs to fund infrastructure and energy projects.   

Public Works Director Susie Turner said she has not received a definitive answer from the state departments responsible for dolling out the funds, but the brakes have not been put on the roughly $17.9 million project yet.  “We’re well on track to move forward,” she said.  

The city is looking to tap into two federal loan forgiveness and grant programs, which would cover the cost of the project, Turner said.  

The two programs were created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted by former President Joe Biden in 2021: the grant program for Small or Disadvantaged Communities and the Emerging Contaminant program, which is a loan forgiveness program funneled through the State Revolving Fund. 

The federal funds go from the Environmental Protection Agency and into the hands of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. 

Turner said she is meeting with the two state agencies on Tuesday to talk about the status of funding for several city projects.  

“I’m on top of it, but I also know that they can only give me the information they have, which probably isn’t a lot,” Turner said. 

Madison McGeffers, spokesperson for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, told the Inter Lake she does not know whether the grant and loan money has been allocated to the state or whether the federal freeze could affect it.  

“It’s hard to know right now. At this second, it doesn’t sound like it is, but also, it’s an ongoing thing we’re reviewing as new information and memos are sent out,” she said.    

“It sounds like the contract between the City of Kalispell and DEQ is still being finalized for the funding, but it’s pretty close,” McGeffers said. 

Kalispell’s Grandview Wells site and Armory Well, which supply drinking water to the entire city, have consistently detected levels of per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS.  

The move to replace the wells comes after the Environmental Protection Agency in April rolled out regulatory limits on six types of commonly found PFAS. A report conducted by the Public Works Department and civil engineering firm Roert Peccia and Associates proposed replacing the Grandview Wells with four new wells drilled in Lawrence Park. The Armory Well would be replaced by two new wells in Dry Bridge Park.  

Voluntary testing in 2022 revealed PFAS in the Armory Well, located by the Kalispell City Airport. Testing done at the Grandview Wells the following year found consistently higher levels of the chemicals. 

In October, the city installed a treatment system at the Grandview Wells site, which effectively removed PFAS from water leaving the well, but city officials call it a temporary solution. The wells are near Flathead Valley Community College.  

PFAS are widely used, long lasting chemicals that break down very slowly over time, according to the EPA. The highly soluble chemicals commonly infiltrate public water supplies through spillage from commercial and industrial facilities.  

Ingestion has led to adverse effects to reproductive health and child development and resulted in an increased risk to types of cancers.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.