Update 10 p.m.
The Billings City Council approved a $1.8 million bid for new piping for the new west end water plant.
(first report) On Monday night, the Billings City Council will review a $1.8 million bid for the next steps in the construction of the west end water plant.
The bid discussed Monday pertains to how the new plant will be connected to the current piping system. The bid was proposed by Askin Construction and would make that connection under King Avenue.
It's a big decision, according to Water Quality Superintendent Louis Engels.
"If you put it in the wrong location, you might create pressure problems, and there could be too much water for that area," Engels said.
Engels said once the plant is added to the current system, it will be like the city has two hearts pumping water around the city.
"We essentially have the pipe infrastructure to push water wherever we want in the city," Engels said. "So, we'll have two sources."
There has been lots of progress at the construction site since it began in March. Engels showed MTN the area on Monday afternoon.
"We're probably about three-quarters of the way through the initial concrete," Engels said as he walked around the property. "And that was always supposed to be around one year of work."
Engels said it'll still be quite some time until the plant starts to take shape.
"For the next several months, you'll still see this concrete structure and then next spring, you'll start to see the building go up," Engels said.
That building will bring a lot of positives to the community — something Engels and his staff are looking forward to. Among the most important is relieving some of the pressure felt at the city's only current plant.
"We've had our existing water treatment plant since the 1890s," Engels said. "So, as you can imagine, there's some maintenance there that we'd like to get done."
The ability to work on the plant has been near impossible in the past, due to the impact shutting off the water would have on the city of Billings.
"If we turned it off for four hours, we'll get calls about water pressure," Engels said. "So, we don't have very much time if we have an issue with our system currently. Whereas when this is done and the reservoirs are here, we'll have weeks."
Then, of course, there's the additional water the plant will bring in, which has become a growing need along with the city as it expands.
"In 2021, we saw periods when we were bumping up against the max amount of water that can come out of the new plant, so this will help us continue to grow," Engels said.
The City of Billings did confirm that the additional plant will eventually save residents money on their water bills, which had many frustrated this summer when the software for the billing system was changed and the expense skyrocketed for some. The cheaper bills won't be reflected for about 20 years though, until the city pays off other debts.
