Greenacres County Water Sewer District


The Greenacres County Water and Sewer District is located on the south east side of the city of Kalispell, MT. The district was formed in 2006 to assume the responsibility for the operation of the water system from the Greenacres West Homeowners Association. The Greenacres subdivision was formed in the early 1970’s and was built out in phases. The water system was designed during the first phase and was expanded twice to meet the needs of the homeowners. The district serves 163 homes and maintains over 10,000 feet of main water lines and three wells.

Portions of our water system were over 35 years old, and not all of the water system was built to customary building standards. In the past, the water system was not always operated or maintained properly. Many of the individual residence curb stops (valves), could not be located or were inoperable. Some of the main valves did not operate either. Because of this problem, the district had to shut down large sections of the subdivision so a homeowner could make repairs. One main line break required two thirds of the district’s customers to be without water for a day and a half until repairs could be completed.

The Homeowner’s Board of Directors decided to find a way to repair and upgrade the system so good clean water could continue to be provided to the residents of the subdivision. Since a homeowners association does not have any legal standings, they can not borrow money or qualify for low interest loans and grants. The homeowners Board did not want to ask all the residents of the subdivision to come up with thousands of dollars each to make the needed repairs. The best option was to form a County Water and Sewer District so we could have access to low interest loans and grants. The vote to form the District was 111 for and 6 against. Most residents knew the water system needed repair and that it would take hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the needed repairs and improvments. Two of the main requirements to submit applications for loans and grants were having a professional engineering firm complete the preliminary study and final design, and the installation of water meters to help residents in water conservation.

The cost of the project was over $550,000. Of that amount, the District received grants totaling over $323,000 with the balance to be paid with a 20 year low interest loan. The improvements included: new curb stops, meter pits, meters, main valves, flushing structures, storage tanks, backup generator, well house and a control / monitoring system.

It is the District goal to continue to provide safe and clean water to the residents and the customers of the Greenacres County Water and Sewer District for many years to come.