BELGRADE — On Monday, the City of Belgrade declared a water system emergency after two out of nine groundwater wells were damaged.
"The question everybody wants to know is, ' Is the water safe to drink?" said Belgrade city manager, Neil Cardwell. "The answer is yes."
WATCH: Belgrade has declared a water emergency — but before you worry, city officials say the water is still safe to drink
Unlike Bozeman, where the drinking water comes from reservoirs and creeks, Belgrade's tap water comes from nine groundwater wells that are around 300 to 500 feet deep.
According to the City of Belgrade, 100 percent of its municipal water comes from those groundwater wells.
Well eight, which is located at Lewis and Clark park, is one of the damaged wells that produces Belgrade's drinking water, which was recently voted the best drinking water in Montana.
"A little over a month ago," explained Cardwell. "It ingested a bunch of sand and debris."
Cardwell said some of that debris, sand, and gravel traveled down the water lines, which destroyed well eight.
"You can imagine, a pump that's designed to move water doesn't do well when it's moving gravel."
Well five — the furthest southern well in Belgrade — is also currently offline.
"We started getting some calls from citizens a few weeks ago of cloudy water," said Cardwell.
However, Cardwell added that once the city investigated the cloudy water, they realized it was caused by air getting into the water lines.
"Obviously, we can realize this was a pretty drought-filled winter, and there might be some connections there," he explained.
Although Cardwell declared that there's no air left in well five, he wanted to ensure that those who live in Belgrade know these problems are "production issues" not "water quality issues."
According to Cardwell, the city declared a state of emergency just to access the funds they needed to repair both wells. He made it clear that the emergency declaration has nothing to do with the water quality.
While both wells are being repaired, Cardwell said there are water restrictions in place: Locals cannot water their lawns between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
