BUTTE — Today is a joyful day for a Butte restaurant located on the flats as it hosts its annual fundraiser for Special Olympic athletes, but last week there was an interruption to their services due to the ‘Do Not Consume Order’ for water that was possibly contaminated by water from the mine owned by Montana Resources.
Now this business and others in the area are looking to recoup funds that were lost during the two days when the Montana Department of Environmental Quality imposed the order for homes and businesses located south of Front Street.
"This is our favorite day of the year without a doubt," says Colin Higgins, the owner of a popular Butte pizza joint.
For 15 years, Mackenzie River Pizza in Butte has been hosting a Tip-a-Cop event to raise money for Special Olympic athletes.
"To see these athletes succeed and thrive and know that they have a community that supports them, man it’s just, it builds them up for life," says Higgins.
Higgins high-fives athletes and officers as they serve customers food – something that wasn’t possible just one week ago when Montana Resources officials informed Butte-Silver Bow that plant water carrying high levels of sulfate, calcium, heavy metals, and high pH levels may have gotten into city water.
"We were voluntarily closed on Thursday and Friday. We just had employees in here cleaning and organizing, and keeping people paid. So, yeah, we were happy to keep people on the payroll for two days. We had a lot of people in here cleaning and oraganizing. The place has never looked better," says Higgins.
He says in addition to wages and other expenses, his business lost over $14,000 dollars in revenue.
WATCH: Mackenzie Pizza River continue to uplift communities despite $14k loss in revenue
Mark Thompson, the vice president of environmental affairs at Montana Resources, says the corporation will now help businesses recoup their losses.
"This has been a huge inconvenience on this community and businesses had to close their doors and people working at those businesses couldn’t go to work and you know this has been trying on the community and we want to do what we can to make it, make it right," says Thompson.
Businesses can make a claim for losses on the Montana Resources website. On August 18th Butte-Silver Bow reported that water samples do not contain contaminates, but a health advisory is in place for vulnerable populations living in the area south of the mine, and bottled water is still being distributed at the Butte Civic Center.
"It makes me feel like we are supported and listened to, and it sounds really fair what they are doing," says Higgins.
