Officials discuss public water safety

There was a Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting on Thursday. At the meeting, Shelly Nolan with Montana Rural Water Systems, reported that she has been working on an initial assessment of the county’s water systems. With the information she’s gathered, the next step would be to create a management plan with local communities.

The assessment includes hazards that could impact water supplies, and what would need to be done in case of an emergency. When she studied ground water and the geology of areas within a 100 foot radius of public wells, Nolan found two major hazardous issues. One is the railroad and the other is the highway. Both are high risk for well contamination.

The west end has a public well next to the highway. She said if, for example, a semi-truck wrecked, its contents could contaminate that water supply. Some steps which should be put into place is to make sure emergency crews know the exact location of the well, and have a plan in place as to how to handle that type of an emergency.

Another area of concern is if the wells lost power. Are there generators available as a backup? These issues, as well as some others, need to be included in the county’s planning process.

In other news, District Fire Management Officer, Jim Ward, reported that the county is not facing the same extreme drought and fire danger as seen last year. But, there will still be a fire season. Currently, the weather has been wet and mild. However, when temperatures do rise, the area will dry up quickly and create hazardous conditions.

Bryce Berry reported on county emergency communications. He said that committee members are favoring portable emergency kits over the use of a mobile command post using a vehicle like a trailer or truck.

Also, a draft of the county emergency Communications Plan is available. The plan establishes guidelines and strategies so that responding agencies should be able to communicate, including incident commanders, emergency management personnel and among themselves.

There was also a discussion among emergency responders, including highway patrol, and fire departments, as to which radio frequencies they should be using. Superior Fire Chief, Rob Torrey, said it would be nice to have a written list of those frequencies, especially for new employee to the area, like himself.