HELENA — The West Main/Eureka to Hale connector project, which began last fall, aims to bring reliable water to thousands of residents for the foreseeable future, but the project has run into challenges along the way.
(Watch the video below to learn more about the project timeline and impact on residents)
“I am glad that Helena is making the investments in these water mains that are going to benefit everybody,” Helena resident Harry Bennett said. “We would like to see it done as soon as possible, but we understand that things happen.”
The $14 million effort was made possible by a $15 million COVID relief grant awarded to the city in 2021. Crews are replacing 130-year-old pipes that run from the West Main well uphill to the 135-year-old Hale tank. The Hale tank holds 4 million gallons of water for the South Hills and downtown residents and businesses.
Bennett lives in the construction zone and says he thought the project would be done by now.
“This has been disruptive. We lost access to all of our garages and driveways until, say, late April to mid-June,” Bennett said.
Ryan Leland, the City of Helena Public Works director, shared what has contributed to the delay.
“The rock is very slow and very hard, so we had to work through that with a drilling team to do the last part of it because of the steepness, which slowed us down from getting it done in time,” he said.
Hitting rock was one challenge, and sewage flowing into the neighborhood was another.
“Black water coming up through the drain in the laundry room and the basement,” Bennett said. “We reported that to the contractor for the city, and they did some remedial correction by changing the slope of the line they replaced, which did alleviate some of the pressure, and we did find out after the fact, in very early July, that there was another blockage in the system.”
The sewage problems began on June 27, and the homeowner’s association had to pay around $17,000 to find a solution.
“A sewer line where they were doing some work was crushed, completely crushed,” Bennett said.
Leland confirmed that: “With our investigation, we did see that the contractor did accidentally hit the service line and has since been fixed.”
As construction continues, residents are still working on solving the problem.
“We are working with the city insurance company; they have been working in good faith, and we do expect to get reimbursed for that amount," Bennett said.
The project was originally set to be complete in June of this year, but with the delays, crews anticipate things to be up and running by the end of August.
