Here’s where Butte gets its water

By The Standard Staff - 06/22/2008

Butte-Silver Bow has three main sources of water: the Big Hole River, and Moulton and Basin Creek reservoirs.

THE BIG HOLE This is Butte’s most critical source of water, according to minutes from a Butte-Silver Bow Study Commission meeting.

Butte-Silver Bow has water rights to 13.7 million gallons per day from the river.

River water is pumped 11 miles from near Divide to the water treatment plant at Feeley. Water from the South Fork Reservoir also gravity flows through the plant.

Water is then pumped from the water treatment plant another 11 miles to the Colorado tank, near Beef Trail, where it enters the city’s distribution system.

It is further pumped by the Summit Valley station up to the West Side tank, which also enters the distribution system.

MOULTON RESERVOIR The second source is the 263-million gallon Moulton Reservoir, north of Butte. The flow from the reservoir goes through about 7 miles of 16-inch line to the Moulton water treatment plant.

BASIN CREEK RESERVOIR The third main source is Basin Creek Reservoir, which has a capacity of 365 million gallons. Water from Basin Creek is filtered, but not treated.

Basin Creek water travels roughly 8 miles before entering Butte’s distribution system.

SILVER LAKE The city-county also has rights to 12 million gallons per day of Silver Lake water, some of which is used by Montana Resources. Silver Lake is located about 15 miles west of Anaconda.

— Information derived from minutes of a Butte-Silver Bow Study Commission meeting.