Malta Lagoon Failure: Though Remedy Was Found, Repairs To Come

Last week, word was received from Public Works Director Jim Truelove informing Mayor John Demarais there was a problem with the lagoon not working properly. A state of emergency was declared from the City Office, which gave the Mayor the authority to make it a priority and get on the phone to start making contact with the necessary entities to begin the long and immediate process of fixing the situation.

Demarais stated things were going good by the time he was interviewed and said that the pipes had developed a leak. The matter came to light when Truelove noticed that the lagoon was not filling. It is undetermined at what point the leakage began. The actual notice was provided to the Mayor on Feb. 14. Lakeside Excavators in Havre were contacted and sent an engineer to review the situation. For the interim, the line has been bypassed and the system is working.

Truelove said, "The forced main is tied in behind the lift station; it goes under the river up on to the north side and then finds its way out to the lagoon, via way of the force main." Truelove added, "...since it was discovered, all I have done is write and take pictures."

Truelove shared pictures of the lift station at Trafton. He described some of the detailed work that went into action following the problem.

"Pipe was laid from the station until they got to the old bridge. It was laid on top of the bridge to get to the north side of the river to Hwy 191 North. From the highway they found a culvert and secured permission from Montana Department of Transportation to get in the culvert to gain access to the other side. They continued with the pipe across Todd Smith's place."

Truelove stated, "From there they went into the aerated cell, which takes all the raw sewage and with the help of big blowers starts the biological process of breaking the waste down. From there it goes to a treatment pond and works around the lagoon. A total of 3,700 feet of pipe were used in the by-pass.

From there it is fed to land owned by Pete Lumsden. The City purchased a big pivot (way back in time) and Pete grows some of the best hay in the county...if not the state!"

The forced main is the original main that was laid when the system was set up. "It may have been laid before I was born," Truelove stated.

As stated at this time, the matter is remedied for the time being. "It will take a long time; they will have to fix it in this calendar year." As the repair of the project progresses along, the PCN will continue to update the readers.