Site work for a water / sewer project in Bozeman, Montana. Conceptual plans call for site work for a water / sewer project.

Hyalite Reservoir and water rights are owned by the MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), and the project is operated and maintained by the Middle Creek Water Users Association (MCWUA), of which the City is the majority shareholder member. Optimization of reservoir operations and improvements to dam infrastructure will require close coordination and agreement by the DNRC, MCWUA, and US Forest Service. This will require a heavy front-loaded planning and pre-design phase to gain stakeholder approval. The objectives of this optimization project are to armor the reservoir control tower to enable some year-over-year storage capacity or multiple reservoir fills during a single water year, and to install control upgrades to improve and allow for automated remote wintertime operation of reservoir releases. Current vulnerability of Bozeman to drought is very high due to the limited waterstorage in the water supply system. Hyalite Reservoir is capable of providing year-over-year storage and multiple fills but is not operated in that manner, due to concerns of ice damage to the control tower, which this project intends to correct. This project is included in the city's fy 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Program. As of January 22, 2025, further details regarding design and construction timelines have not been identified. *Project information has been obtained through a public capital improvement plan (CIP). A CIP is a financial schedule for short- and long-range projects which is updated regularly. Information listed in the CIP often evolves based on funding availability and the project details, including timeline and value, are subject to change. The content management team will continue to pursue additional details as they become available.