Bozeman Commission unanimously approves engagement plan to update city water plan; seeks wide public input

The Bozeman City Commission unanimously approved an engagement plan on April 8 to update the city’s Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP), the long-range strategy for water supply, conservation and infrastructure.

Utilities Director Sean Coats and consultant Matt Widdern of Raftelis described the update as a multiyear effort to reassess supplies, conservation, climate impacts and growth scenarios. Coats said the city first adopted an integrated water plan in 2013 and that conservation and operational changes since then have reduced demand and altered the supply/demand picture.

Widdern outlined a four-phase outreach and analysis schedule: (1) engagement planning and staff workshops; (2) early engagement, stakeholder interviews and formation of a Water Advisory Committee (WAC); (3) deep engagement and alternatives refinement; and (4) development and delivery of the updated IWRP. The consultant emphasized a “both/and” approach — pairing new supply evaluation with continued conservation and system optimization.

The engagement plan proposes a time‑limited WAC to advise the update, plus two subcommittees: a technical advisory committee (TAC) for expert review and a public advisory committee (PAC) to capture community perspectives. Staff and consultants said the committees should be large enough to be representative but small enough to be functional (recommended WAC size: roughly 12–15 members). Proposed stakeholder categories listed in the plan include water users, agricultural irrigators, development representatives, conservation groups, public health, tribal and state agencies, and others.

Commissioners asked how the WAC meetings would operate, whether members of the public should serve on the TAC, how the city would avoid "engagement burnout," and whether the city should invest in statistically representative surveys. Widdern and Coats answered that meetings should be structured to build understanding and consensus where possible, and that staff will evaluate budget and methodology for any paid, statistically valid polling. Coats said he prefers quality over speed and that the city will not rush a technically sound plan.

The engagement plan also notes the legal and planning context: Bozeman lies in a closed basin, state planning law requires municipalities to plan for water, and wildfire and climate change pose risks to watershed reliability. Coats and Widdern said the update will examine multiple growth scenarios, evaluate groundwater options, nonpotable reuse and reservoir shares, and quantify conservation outcomes already realized.

Commissioner Fisher, who moved the motion to approve the engagement plan, asked that a commission member attend WAC meetings as a liaison to listen and report back. Other commissioners asked staff to consider statistically robust survey methods and to ensure a visible “closing the loop” communication so the public can see how input shaped recommendations.

The motion passed unanimously. Staff and consultants will begin recruiting WAC members, publish the engagement hub on the city’s Engage Bozeman platform, and schedule the first public outreach events under the timeline included in the plan.

Ending: The City Commission approved the engagement framework; next steps are WAC recruitment, public outreach events and technical analysis that will feed the updated IWRP for later commission review and adoption.