Fairfield’s water shortage becomes critical, leads to tighter water conservation measures

FAIRFIELD, Mont. - If you're walking around Fairfield, you’ll notice signs saying water restrictions are set in place.

These restrictions have been enacted for about a month and now the town’s water shortage has become critical.

Ongoing drought challenges continue to put a strain on the people in Fairfield, leading to tighter water conservation measures.

“Our wells just don’t rejuvenate this time of year. Through drought, through change in farming practices. Those types of things have just caused our wells to not rejuvenate in the way they have in the past,” said Loren Tacke, mayor of Fairfield.

Over the last several years, Fairfield has had a history with water shortages.

The town of Fairfield has eight wells in operation, but as of Wednesday four wells are down due to low water and two of the wells are running at 30% to 40% capacity.

One of Fairfield's main water users is its own school district.

“The mayor called and said that we were at some critical levels for water in Fairfield. and the school needed to do their part so we enacted an emergency water use plan,” said Dustin Gordon, Fairfield Public Schools superintendent.

This plan went into effect on Tuesday where the school district rolled out portable restrooms to cut down on water usage.

Also, food services will transition to paper and disposable products, water bottle filling stations will remain operational, and additional waterless hand sanitizer and hand wipes will be provided throughout school buildings and classrooms.

Not only is Tacke the mayor of Fairfield, he works part time as a teacher for the school district as well.

Which means he sees the water shortage challenges first hand.

“You see them much more clearly. You try to make resolutions to try and find things that you can do to try and solve some of those problems,” said Tacke.

Tacke said officials will be going around to visit businesses in town to discuss cutting back on water usage.

And what the public works department has done so far is complete the first phase of an infrastructure project to replace an aging underground pipe.

Phases two and three are slated for this summer to keep replacing those pipes to help preserve water.

Tacke said the town is also looking into federal grants, working with Great West Engineering in Helena to help get grant opportunities and representative Llew Jones reached out to Tacke about some potential state emergency funding.