President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze left Kalispell officials uncertain whether the city will receive needed money to rid forever chemicals from its drinking water.  

Expected to go into effect Tuesday evening, Trump on Monday ordered a hold on all federal financial assistance, which could affect local governments across the country that rely on federal programs to fund infrastructure and energy projects. 

It is unclear whether the city’s roughly $18 million project to replace two drinking water wells contaminated with forever chemicals will be affected, but City Manager Doug Russell said during Monday’s Kalispell City Council meeting that the municipality will continue working on the project. 

“We’ve been told verbally that the money is awarded to Kalispell,” said Public Works Director Susie Turner. She planned to ask about funding during a scheduled meeting on Tuesday with Department of Environmental Quality and State Revolving Fund officials. 

Councilor Ryan Hunter sparked the discussion after asking whether the spending freeze would affect Kalispell. 

Russell said he is “pretty sure” the city will still receive funding because he thinks the federal dollars have already been allocated to Montana.  

During Monday’s meeting, councilors heard a preliminary engineering report from the Public Works Department and civil engineering firm Robert Peccia and Associates on several alternatives to replace both the Grandview Wells site and Armory Well, which have both consistently shown detections of forever chemicals, also known as PFAS.  

Forever chemicals were first detected in the city’s public water supply in 2022, and the move to decontaminate the drinking water comes after the Environmental Protection Agency in April rolled out regulatory limits on six types of commonly found PFAS. 

A PFOS limit was established at four parts per trillion, and PFHxS, another forever chemical found in the Grandview and Armory wells, was set at 10 parts per trillion. 

The Grandview Wells site, located beside Flathead Valley Community College, has shown regular detections above the federal limit. Turner said she does not know how the chemicals are entering the well that supplies North Kalispell.  

Mayor Mark Johnson asked if any test drilling was done to see if PFAS was present outside of the wells. Turner said such tests were not conducted.   

The city came into adherence with the EPA mandate after a treatment system was installed at the well site in October. Sampling shows that the system is successfully eliminating PFAS from the water.  

But Brad Koenig, group manager for Robert Peccia and Associates, suggested the installed system serve as a temporary measure, and that the city should consider replacing the contaminated wells as a long-term fix. 

To replace the Grandview Wells, the preliminary engineering report proposed drilling four new smaller wells on the Buffalo Hill Golf Course. 

Test drilling showed no detections of PFAS and indicated that pressure swings felt at the Logan Health Medical Center area would be reduced. Construction may affect operations at the golf course, though.  

The Armory Well, which sits near Kalispell airport, first detected PFAS in 2022. The well is also in an old armory, “which are known potential areas that have used PFAS,” Turner said. 

To replace the well, the report proposes drilling two wells in Dry Bridge Park. A pump house would need to be built, and 5,300 feet of pipe would need to be laid under Woodland Avenue. Koenig said the pump house would be built so as to avoid obstructing the sledding that is popular on the hill.  

The project is expected to be completed by 2027.  

Money for the multimillion-dollar project would come from two federally funded programs created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted by former President Joe Biden in 2021: The grant program for Small or Disadvantaged Communities and the Emerging Contaminant program, which is a loan forgiveness program funneled through the State Revolving Fund.  

The Trump administration also curtailed Biden’s limits on PFAS chemicals in industrial wastewater. While this does not apply to public water systems, it raises the question of how the White House will approach drinking water regulations.   

PFAS are widely used, long lasting chemicals that break down very slowly over time, according to the EPA. The highly soluble chemicals commonly infiltrate public water supplies through spillage from commercial and industrial facilities. 

Ingestion has led to adverse effects to reproductive health and child development, and resulted in an increased risk to types of cancers.   

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.