Community Support

The Lockwood Community has expressed an interest in creating and constructing a central sewer system for a number of years.  The Lockwood Water & Sewer District (LWSD) was established through election in 1996 for the purpose of researching the construction of a central sewer system in Lockwood.  Since that time, the Board of LWSD has worked towards that goal and held four bond elections for financing a Lockwood sewer system.  With one exception, the election results showed that a majority of voters favored construction of a sewer system.  Until the 2005 legislature, a super majority vote (60%) was required to pass a bond issue.  The election results table can be found below.  The new election laws can be found in the “General Obligation Bond Election Laws” table below as well.   

Wastewater Service Agreement with the City of Billings

An Agreement between the Lockwood Water & Sewer District and the City of Billings for treatment of Lockwood’s wastewater was successfully negotiated and entered into on September 13, 1999.  By the terms of that agreement, Lockwood would need to start discharging wastewater to the City of Billings within 5 years of the date of the contract, or pay a Reserve Plant Capacity Charge.  Construction of a Lockwood Sewer System did not occur during that time frame and the LWSD Board elected not to pay a Reserve Plant Capacity Charge in order to retain the contract, but rather negotiate a new contract to take its place.

As considerable cost savings would have been realized if Lockwood’s sewage was treated by the City of Billings versus the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Lockwood, a new agreement was drafted and supported by the City of Billings Public Works staff and the LWSD Board.  The proposed agreement was taken before the City Council for their review and approval.  On August 14, 2006, the Billings City Council voted not to enter into an agreement with Lockwood by a vote of 6 to 4. 

Estimated Costs for Construction of Central Sewer System to Entire District

The engineers, Morrison Maierle, Inc., have completed a task order that has provided the Board with the updated estimated costs to construct a central sewer system in Lockwood.  These estimates are available in PDF format by clicking here.  The costs presented represent the estimated costs to construct the entire proposed sewer system in the Lockwood Water & Sewer District. 

Creation of Sub-districts

In 2005, the Montana Legislature passed legislation that now allows water and sewer districts to create sub-districts within their legal boundaries.  Until this legislation passed, only County Commissioners could create district boundaries through election.  This legislation will allow the Board to consider alternate options for installing a central sewer system. 

The Board has now assigned an additional task order to the engineers to draft a boundary around a possible “sub-district” that follows the community’s commercial/industrial corridor.  The Board is contemplating adoption of a “sub-district boundary” for consideration of the construction of a central sewer system within that boundary.  The boundary has not yet been identified, but will be drafted during the task orders completion.  When a possible sub-district boundary has been drafted, it will then be made available to the public and a public hearing scheduled. 

If adopted, an election will be held and only registered voters residing in or owning property within that boundary would vote on the proposed project and would be the only properties paying for the construction of that same project within the sub-district boundary.  Some of the grants already in place would be used to pay for the over sizing of trunk and collection mains which would benefit the entire district.  The remainder of those grants would be used to pay for sewer mains into other sub-districts.  These sub-districts may be eligible for further grant funding.  The LWSD would be able to apply for low income assistance for qualifying properties in the sub-districts.  The LWSD has received verbal commitments from many of our legislators and funding agencies to assist in our efforts to find grant funds for the project once the community starts construction of the central sewer system. 

Yellowstone City-County Health Department Letter to LWSD regarding Septic Systems in Lockwood

In February of 2006, the LWSD Board received a letter from the City-County Health Department regarding Lockwood’s on-site wastewater systems. 

Further Information to Come

The LWSD Board will be considering the alternatives available to construct a central sewer system for Lockwood.  The alternatives that are available include building its own wastewater treatment plant with land disposal, building a plant with discharge to the Yellowstone River, building a treatment plant with spray irrigation, working with the City of Billings to reach an agreement for them to treat Lockwood’s wastewater, or do nothing. 

Please watch this site and follow the newspapers and news releases the Board will put out in the future for new and important information as it becomes available. 

Lockwood Water & Sewer District Election Results

New Water & Sewer District General Obligation Bond Election Laws From 2005 Legislature