Consulting engineers told an open house audience that Columbia Falls’ water system generally provides adequate pressure and service today but is approaching limits in several areas and will need targeted investments to meet future growth.

Stephanie Reynolds, a senior project engineer on the consulting team, presented a preliminary engineering report update that used seven years of meter, GIS and well‑production data. "Average daily demand is about 1,400,000 gallons," she said, adding that maximum‑day demand is roughly 3,490,000 gallons and the modelled peak‑hour scenario is the equivalent of about 6,980,000 gallons per day. She said residential demand makes up more than half of use and irrigation about 12%.

The hydraulic model shows generally good pressures across the distribution system but flagged head loss on the pipe that carries water from the storage tank into the distribution system and several nodes that do not meet stated fire‑flow criteria. Reynolds noted the fire‑flow goals used in the maps: 1,000 gallons per minute for low/medium residential, 2,500 gpm for commercial/high‑density residential and 3,500 gpm for industrial land uses.

On source capacity, Reynolds said the state’s DEQ Circular 1 requires systems to be able to meet maximum‑day demand with the largest producing well out of service. Under that standard the city’s two operational wells would produce about 3,020,000 gpd while the recorded maximum day is 3,490,000 gpd — “so source capacity appears slightly undersized,” she said, recommending that the city evaluate an additional well.

Storage was assessed against the standard of average day demand plus fire flow; the engineers calculated required storage of about 1,870,000 gallons and reported the city currently has approximately 2,050,000 gallons of storage, meaning the system meets the minimum today but would benefit from redundancy and additional storage as growth occurs.

City staff and the consultants emphasized that the PER update is intended to identify funding‑eligible projects and inform future council and planning commission decisions. Eric (city staff) told the audience the city will use the PER to guide how near‑term development applications are processed and that a follow‑up public meeting is planned in February to present future‑condition scenarios and project alternatives.

The presentation and question period also covered modeling assumptions: engineers said the "existing conditions" model uses in‑ground GIS and active meter data, so approved but unbuilt subdivisions are included only in future‑condition scenarios. Eric estimated about 700 residents of committed capacity from approved plats and identified examples such as Tamarack Meadows (about 103 single‑family lots), which staff said the city will honor service commitments for when those lots are built.

Next steps outlined by staff and consultants include completing the PER update by May, evaluating an additional well, studying redundancy on the transmission main and adding storage options, and coordinating with DEQ on regulatory limits and design criteria. Residents were invited to review maps and discuss details with engineers after the meeting.