Butte-Silver Bow is excited to announce that after three years of planning and construction, their new Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant is open and operational. This facility vastly improves Butte’s wastewater infrastructure and will improve the long-term environmental health of a restored Silver Bow Creek and Upper Clark Fork/Columbia River Basin, benefiting the local economy and all communities downstream.
Butte-Silver Bow was able to take advantage of the State of Montana’s Department of Natural Resource and Conservation’s Water Pollution Control State Revolving Loan Fund program to finance this project at significant savings to its ratepayers. Through this program offered under Governor Bullock’s Administration and the State of Montana, the local government was able to borrow $30.268 Million at a fixed rate of 2.5% over 25 years (.5% lower than the program initially offered) with a debt service coverage ratio of only 110%, saving the rate payers of Butte-Silver Bow millions of dollars over the course of the loan and significantly more in comparison to market rate of approximately 4.20% and debt service coverage ratio of 135% on similarly issued debt. An additional grant award for $4.36 Million for this project also came from the State of Montana’s Montana Pole Remedial Action Account Fund, helping to complete the project, again saving Butte’s ratepayers millions of dollars. “It is great having a relationship with our Governor and state government that allows us to think and work outside the box,” said Chief Executive Matt Vincent. “Without that cooperation and creative thinking, this crucial and necessary project would have placed an undue burden on our ratepayers.”
Wastewater processed at this new facility will result in the cleanest municipal effluent reaching Silver Bow Creek in the Butte community’s history. Further, the technology employed at the new plant will give Butte-Silver Bow the newest, most advanced wastewater facility in Montana. This membrane technology greatly improves the water quality in the creek and the Upper Clark Fork River. The project will also result in substantial improvements in energy efficiency and the renewal of aging facilities and equipment, some over 40 years old.
“With this state-of-the-art facility, Butte will be able meet the needs of future long-term growth, setting the stage for new economic activity. Once again, Butte is making significant contributions to the headwaters of the Clark Fork River,” said Vincent. “As opposed to our past, the difference today and in the years to come is that the contributions are positive ones: setting the stage for limiting nutrients discharged into our watershed and making the necessary investments in our public infrastructure to benefit ourselves and future generations.”
Governor Bullock added, “Using the very best technology available for treating wastewater, Butte-Silver Bow is able to build on years of work to improve water quality in Silver Bow Creek and the wider Clark Fork River Basin.”
Butte-Silver Bow and the State of Montana invite the public to attend the grand opening ceremony at the new facility, 800 Centennial, Butte, MT 59701, on Monday, September 26, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Following remarks and ribbon cutting, there will be free guided tours of the facility as well as refreshments.
For questions, please contact, Butte-Silver Bow Online and Public Communications Administrator, Jeremy Gatz-Miller at (406) 497-6221 or jgatzmiller@bsb.mt.gov.