HOT SPRINGS – The town of Hot Springs received bids on the community’s upcoming water project last week at the town hall.

In total the town received five bids for the upcoming water project at the meeting held on Thursday, July 9.

The project will replace the town’s water tank, which was originally put in around 1933 and was renovated in the 1980s.

According to Mayor Randy Woods, the water tank’s age and evaluations from Montana Department of Environmental Quality were driving forces behind the scheduled water project.

He said the DEQ evaluation held the town needed 325,000 gallons of water storage and with the existing system the town was at around 200,000 gallons of storage.

The mayor explained a water system with a larger capacity will give the town more options in terms of expansion.

With more water storage allotted the town could accommodate a new hotel or other potential businesses.  

“This project gives us a lot of options,” Woods said.

The old water tank is located on the western edge of town and the new facility will be located on the eastern side of Hot Springs.

Roughly 3,000 feet of line including a transmission main will also be replaced as part of the water project.

Woods added the project plans to connect a line near tribal housing, to loop water from the new system to tribal housing and the bathhouse.

The mayor also stated there is a planned line extension to be put in by Hot Springs School.

“We are going to do a line extension at the school to bring a main line down Jaques Road, about 600 to 700 feet of line and add two fire hydrants for fire protection at the school,” Woods said.

The low bid the town received for the future water project was estimated at $882,431.92 and the high bid came in at over $1 million.

Woods was optimistic the town would be able to negotiate with the contractors to drive the bids down and make the project a more affordable endeavor.

The mayor noted two of the received bids came in under the town’s projections.  

He added, at the pre-bid meeting held by the town in early July there were at least a dozen interested parties in attendance.

The project engineer for the town’s water project is Morrison-Maierle, Inc. who designed and will oversee the project.

Representatives from Morrison-Maierle were on hand for the last week’s meeting.

Before the town moves forward with any of the bids a special meeting of the town council will be held, where the council will have to approve the selected bid before the project commences.