BIG TIMBER - Big Timber residents are under a boil water advisory after flooding at the water treatment plant on Monday.
It's the second water issue in less than a year.
A broken water pipe caused some flooding which led to damage to the pumps.
Water is still getting pumped to the city, but it’s not filtered.
The Timber Bar stayed open with requirements from the Park County Sanitarian.
No water, no ice, no washing dishes, no steaks, and no produce.
“Well, hopefully, if they can't put lettuce and tomato on my burgers, they'll supplement that with a bigger meat patty,” said Joel Clark. “Right?”
Clark is taking some clients hiking in Yellowstone National Park and staying at the nearby Grand Hotel.
“They put a bunch of bottled water in the refrigerator upstairs for guests to use,” Clark said. “So I'm ok.”
“None of the ice was made before the water was contaminated,” said Nichole Bowling, Grand Hotel & Restaurant general manager.
Ice was bought that was made before Monday and the hotel's restaurant can use the dishwasher.
“The requirement really is that when we're cleaning things, while we're disinfecting, it has to be kept over 160 degrees,” Bowling said.
The city is still running water into big timber, but it wants to limit how much people use and it's not for drinking.
“We're sending unfiltered but chlorinated water to town right now,” said Kris Novotny, Big Timber public works director. “So the reason the boil water advisory is still on is because we're sending unfiltered water in.”
Novotny said the parts arrived and the system may be fixed on Thursday.
“We're still to find a couple of pipe parts to finish a repair on there,” Novotny said. “But we should be able to get that by (Thursday).
And many are just making the best of the situation.”
“The city has been very helpful,” said Tammy Kober, who lives in Big Timber. “They gave us jugs and then they let us know to boil our water. We live in Big Timber. We don't have, we don't have problems like that.”
“There's bigger problems in the world right now,” said Clark. "This is very small.”
“Anyone in the community that wants to donate five gallons of well water, we’ll provide them with a free well drink,” Bowling said. “So we've got to take care of our staff as well.”
