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Belt receives funding for wastewater station upgrade

Posted at 8:59 PM, Dec 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-05 23:00:38-05

Belt has received $850,000 in federal funding to upgrade its wastewater lift station.

A pump that moves wastewater to treatment lagoons failed this summer and the backup pump failed just a few weeks later.

The Public Works Department said upgrades were already planned for the 56-year-old station, but the pump failure gave the project new urgency.

The funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture included a $589,000 grant and $261,000 loan.

Robin Franzen of Belt Public Works said keeping up with aging water systems is a difficult challenge for many small communities.

“Your hear the problems and solutions from the small towns around Montana,” Franzen said. “It’s just phenomenal how things get done with such few.”

He added that some towns have less than 100 people, but still have the same problems as larger cities.

“So unless you get the federal grants and everything, it would be impossible for a community to self-support,” Franzen said.

The project is in the design phase right now and work should get underway this spring.

-Reported by Joe Huisinga/MTN News