State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

How Does a Town of 312 People Afford a $3.6 Million Water System Upgrade?

Route Fifty: The storage tank that held tap water for Hysham, Montana, had been in service for about five decades when the town finally decided it would need to be replaced.

With roughly 300 residents, Hysham is located 70 miles northeast of Billings, along Interstate 94. It was back around 1958 when the town upgraded a wooden water tank with a new metal one that stood about 125 feet tall and could hold 100,000 gallons of water.

A routine inspection in early 2012 found the interior of the tank had become badly corroded. In the months that followed the inspection, it sprang leaks. The aging tank had been patched up previously and structural engineers determined that this time it would be unrepairable.

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