The City of Columbia Falls hosted an open house reviewing its public water and wastewater/sewer infrastructure on Thursday, November 20, 2025. Slides and video from the meeting are here. The city will host another open house after further study of future needs, in February 2026, and the topic continues at the December 11 Planning Commission and December 15 City Council meetings, including a decision framework for current utility capacity and near-term development applications.
High-level key points
- Current utility rates are too low to cover the costs of service delivery, maintenance, and modernization of systems established in 2018 — Columbia Falls has some of Montana’s lowest water and sewer rates.
- Development proposals may reach or surpass wastewater capacity, requiring phased development.
Wastewater collection and treatment
From the preliminary engineering report (Morrison Maierle): current system capacity is 0.68 million gallons per day, which can rise to 0.71 by eliminating porta-potty waste intake and to 1.4 by adding a bioreactor. Current capacity will be reached in 2028. Two of ten lift stations are deficient during peak season (July), with a third becoming deficient under near-term development; some piping is deficient at peak, with more sections following within 20 years.
Immediate treatment-plant needs: the UV disinfection system (poor condition, limited reliability, no seasonal redundancy), solids dewatering (needed to comply with county landfill regulations), and blowers and bioreactor capacity (limited redundancy, near-term increases needed).
Public water system
From the preliminary engineering report (WGM Group): the system has three municipal wells, one 2.1-million-gallon storage tank, about 44 miles of piping, and 2,292 metered service lines in a single pressure zone (60 to 110+ PSI). Pressures are good throughout, but the main leaving the storage tank is undersized, and multiple fire hydrants don’t meet fire-flow goals. Maximum-day demand is 3.49 million gallons, but capacity with the largest well offline is only 3.02 million — the system is undersized for current requirements, and additional water sources will need to be developed. Storage capacity is near DEQ limits (1.87 million gallons required; 2.05 available).
Columbia Falls must make strategic infrastructure improvements in both systems to accommodate growth and address current deficiencies. Future-conditions modeling continues through early 2026, with detailed findings due in February. Follow along on the Columbia Falls Land Use Plan engagement site.