RONAN - A public hearing on storm water management last Wednesday drew approximately 20 city council members, city employees and community members to the Ronan City Hall to hash out preliminary plans for the city's infrastructure.

Engineering consultants Shari Johnson and Collette Anderson were present to lead the second, and higher attended, public meeting outlining their "preliminary engineering report," which included possible plans to address and improve the city's storm water collection, treatment and disposal system. The engineers presented some grant ideas and estimated costs for projects to help the council make decisions on what direction to go.

Johnson began by outlining the city's existing infrastructure in regards to collection, treatment and disposal techniques currently used. She said there are some storm water mainlines, and quite a few open ditches. She said the majority of the water receives no cleaning treatment, and that most of the water ends up in Spring Creek, which runs through town.

"Right now, predominantly, the water ends up in Spring Creek," she said. "Not all of it, you do have some other drainage zones, but most of it."

She went on to delve into the various existing storm water issues the city has. Johnson mentioned some of the Department of Environmental Quality's compliance requirements, and while there are not many, she said that being in a headwater state, "a lot of stuff is coming down the pike." The hope is to be in compliance when regulations appear so the city isn't doing the same project multiple times, she said.

Other problems include undersized storm water pipes. Johnson said the smaller sizes have led to flooding in three distinct areas in the past, something that can hopefully be prevented with the new plan. One way to avoid the flooding, she said, is to utilize methods of detention and retention of the storm water to ensure that it filters through pipes at a slower rate.

Anderson next came up to present on the water quality of storm water samples from around the city. She mentioned that there isn't much treatment of the storm water by the city or done naturally, and that the samples showed levels of E-coli, nitrates, phosphates, and other common metal deposits.

"The levels aren't necessarily super high or anything to cause alarm at this point, it's just, they're there, and just points out that something should be done, probably more preventative even than anything else to kind of slow down the amount of those nutrients that are actually getting to the creek," Anderson said.

Ranging from long-range and extremely expensive to easier, immediate solutions, the two discussed alternatives for collection and conveyance issues, flow control and pollution reduction. One of the most important, and necessary, immediate remedies they discussed was altering the water source of the city's "splash pad." The splash pad is the area in the city park that has an arrangement of pipes that children play and cool off in during the summer. The water for the play area is currently piped in from Spring Creek, and Anderson said that because of the pollutants found in the waterway, the city should consider piping the water from the city public supply well. The engineers agreed that the change would be a relatively easy fix that could be completed in time for the warmer weather, when the splash pad is utilized.

"What do we need to do now and what can we build and plan for to do later?" Anderson asked of the crowd, hoping to elicit public comments, ideas and suggestions.

While most agreed the splash pad issue, which will cost approximately $55,000, should be addressed immediately, there was no general consensus yet on how to tackle, or pay for, the improvements to other parts of the city. The engineers showed two slides that broke the city up into 13 different "zones"; the estimated costs to make repairs to all the zones came to a total of approximately $2 million. Johnson said the city has a good start on raising funds because of the storm water utility they have collected since November 2009, which she estimated generates $50,000 for such projects each year.

"You can build sections of wetland throughout the city," Johnson said. "It isn't done all at once, but it can be pieced together."

An important part of the expensive and long process, Johnson said, will be applying for grants. One way to plan, Johnson said, is to consider the coming construction project through the city on U.S. Highway 93. She said that if the city has a master plan for storm water changes by that time, the Montana Department of Transportation will work with the city and pay for changes made near the roadway.

Mayor Kim Aipperspach said the council would consider all recommendations, and will have a decision by the next council meeting on April 12 or after an earlier work meeting about the issue.