Montana

Montana water systems to identify lead service lines for federal rule

Published

2 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Montana water systems to identify lead service lines for federal rule

HELENA — For the last few years, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has been working with schools to help them identify and respond to sources of lead in their drinking water. Now they’re helping take on a far wider inventory of lead in water systems.

“This is a much bigger undertaking,” said Greg Montgomery, DEQ’s Lead and Copper Rule coordinator.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has updated its Lead and Copper Rule, which requires water systems across the country to take steps to control these metals in drinking water. As part of that, they are giving systems until October to make an inventory of lead service lines – the pipes that run between water mains and the customer.

The EPA says there is no safe level of lead exposure. Even low levels of lead in drinking water have been linked to health impacts, especially for children.

“Service line inventories are the foundation from which water systems can take action to address LSLs,” the EPA said in a fact sheet for water systems. “Establishing an inventory of service line materials and identifying the location of LSLs are key steps in getting them replaced.”

MTN asked Montgomery how common lead service lines are in Montana.

“I don’t think we know yet,” he replied.

“Obviously, some parts of the country have higher numbers than other places, but in Montana, we really didn’t know,” he added. “We know some communities have them, but not a good number.”

Water systems will have to identify lead pipes and galvanized pipes that have ever been downstream from a lead pipe. The rule applies to community systems – including cities, towns and subdivisions – as well as to buildings like schools, factories, offices and hospitals that have their own systems. Montgomery said 1,065 individual systems across Montana will be doing the inventory.

So far, 77 of them have already completed their work. They include the city of East Helena – where leaders say the work was easier because they had records of what their service lines were made of from the late 1990s, when they installed new water meters across the city.

Other water systems may need to work directly with customers to get a closer look at their service lines. In Helena, public works leaders say they have data on record for most of their customers. Once a consultant finishes analyzing that information, they’ll start reaching out to the ones they don’t have data for – estimated to be less than 600 lines – so they can test and identify their composition.

Montgomery says DEQ has put together Montana-specific guidance to help water systems doing their inventory. The Montana Department of Commerce is also giving public water systems a chance to apply for technical assistance.

“If a system applies for that, then Commerce can assign them a contractor to assist them in doing their inventory, at no cost to them,” said Montgomery.

Water systems have until Oct. 16 to get their inventories done.

“This is just the initial inventory, so it’s okay – if they can’t determine what that line is, they can certainly mark it as ‘unknown,’ as long as they have a plan in place to determine what that line material is in the future,” Montgomery said.

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Montana

Surprisingly, Montana Won't See This Wanted Retailer in 2024

Published

2 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Surprisingly, Montana Won't See This Wanted Retailer in 2024

There has been a lot of chatter about Montana getting a location of this famous, much loved furniture retailer. However, it appears that we’re NOT getting a location in Montana or anywhere near us, anytime soon.

We’re talking about the world’s largest furniture retailer, as of 2008. Their blue and yellow buildings can be found all over the planet – but NONE are located in Montana or anywhere surrounding us. (As of this writing, there are no locations in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakota, or South Dakota.)

The closest IKEA location to Montana is in Draper, Utah. (Draper is south of Salt Lake City, about halfway to Provo, Utah.) There is also an IKEA location in Centennial, Colorado which is just south of Denver.

Montanans are quite keen on getting our own IKEA location, but unfortunately that isn’t going to happen in the near future. Yes, IKEA is opening more showrooms in the United States, but their list of ‘coming soon’ stores still does not include Montana OR any of our neighbor states.

MORE: Theses Are The Most Popular Restaurants In Montana

IKEA’s layout is famously enticing – with full room settings that inspire customers to purchase entire room sets. Even though many folks simply walk out with only a bookcase to put together at home, IKEA is incredibly good at selling a particular style and furniture ‘vibe’.

IKEA store location 2024 – IKEA

If you’ve shopped at an IKEA, you know that each of their products has a name – making it easier to remember than some random code number. That naming of items is done on purpose, and has an interesting reason behind it:

“(IKEA) Company founder Kamprad was dyslexic, finding that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a long product code, made the products easier to identify and remember.” (wikipedia.com)

So who is getting a new IKEA location? In January of 2024, IKEA announced where they’d open four new locations in the United States. (These new locations are being called “new format” stores.)

“In 2024, IKEA U.S. is excited to welcome customers at new Plan & order points with Pick-up in Austin, Texas, the Atlanta Metropolitan area, two locations in the greater Los Angeles market and more to come.” (IKEA.com)

With a shred of luck, the ‘Montana area’ can hope that the ‘more-to-come’ part might include a nearby location in the future. The impeccable design of IKEA and their occasionally frustrating assembly instructions are wanted in Montana. Not to mention their tasty in-store restaurants and bistros

Does IKEA still serve meatballs? You bet they do. Items on IKEA’s menu include: “Breakfast Plate with Swedish Pancakes. Swedish Meatballs, Served with Mashed Potatoes and Lingonberry Jam. Garlic Lemon Cod. Marinated Salmon Wraps. Stockholm Salad, Served on Mixed Greens with Marinated Salmon.

MORE: Where To Find Montana’s Best Burgers

Yes, You Can Really Live in this Snazzy Converted Missouri Silo

Gallery Credit: Deanna Gould with Ritter Real Estate, Realtor.com

A Photo Journal of Some Of the Adirondack Park’s Most Historic Churches

There is just so much history in our Adirondack Mountains region. A lot of that history can be traced back through its many old and historic churches. This gallery takes a look at several them. They are all well over 100 years old. They display several different kinds of church architecture (of the period). All have great back stories to them. And some of them are even only accessible by boat.

Take a look at these sacred sites, all in the Adirondack Park.

Gallery Credit: Chuck D’Imperio

The Best Disc Golf Courses In Montana

Gallery Credit: mwolfe

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Montana

Water’s Edge Winery in Evergreen to be featured on America’s Best Restaurants

Published

9 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Water’s Edge Winery in Evergreen to be featured on America’s Best Restaurants

Water’s Edge Winery owner Angela Zuba was shocked when she was contacted by producers on “America’s Best Restaurants,” a show that highlights eateries and bars all across the country.

“To be on a show that is broadcast all over the world, so it’s not even limited to American TV … It was elation,” Zuba said.

Zuba and her husband Trevor opened Water’s Edge Winery in 2020, the franchise has 11 locations throughout the United States. The award-winning business is known for its large wine menu and made-in-house blends, and is a popular place for locals to grab a bite to eat. They make all their wines on location, using grape varieties from all over the world to create a truly unique product.

For her, creating a good menu to go with their wines was just as important as the drink itself.

“I am a foodie, always have been. And in my world, wine can’t be drunk without food and food can’t be enjoyed without wine. So I developed the menu, and it’s constantly rotating — it’s all about what is going to pair best with your wine. But the key is simple. A lot of times you get things that are really over complicated and it can take away from the beauty of the natural essence of the food,” Zuba said.

That’s why they don’t fry anything or buy frozen food, Zuba said everything is made fresh as much as possible, including all of their sauces and salad dressings. She said wine is incorporated whenever possible too, like their baked white wine cheese dip.

That freshness was on full display when the “America’s Best Restaurant” crew came to film at the winery in April. Host Theo Williams said they were setting up to film him trying some of what their menu has to offer.

“We’re going to be drinking some wine. I know Angela, the owner here, she has a blended wine that she’s making with grapes imported from Italy and from South America. So I’m gonna get to try that,” Theo said.

There are three different ways a restaurant can get on their show: it can be scouted by the TV’s team, owners can submit a request themselves or they can be nominated by a customer. Zuba said for Water’s Edge, she reached out to them after seeing an ad on social media. When she asked if they’d ever been to Montana, that spurred a conversation with the show’s producers.

“They contacted me and then did research on us, our restaurant, our story and concept. Then it went back and forth,” Zuba said. “We had about six different interviews. And at that point, they said, ‘Yeah, you have something really special.’ And so they wanted to feature us.”

Customers think so too — Water’s Edge Winery has won Best Winery and Best Wine Selection in the Best of Flathead competition for three years running. Zuba said she wants to keep the food and wine menus fresh, while appealing to a wide range of tastes. When it comes to the wine, she said she’s got a wine for every kind of pallet. And for those who just aren’t wine drinkers, Zuba said they also make a hard cider.

“Right down from the sweet line all the way up to those big, bold red wines, because I want everybody to enjoy the world of wine. And the wine palette is a circle, most people start their journey with sweet wines, then they progress to the drier whites, then they go to the sweeter or little bit darker reds. Then they go to the dry reds and then they start back over again,” she said.

During the springtime and summertime, her mind is on sangrias. But, she said they take a different approach to the drink by infusing the wine with natural plant extracts, as opposed to soaking fruit in the wine.

“So for summertime, we’ve actually done coconut rum sangria. We do pineapple yuzu, raspberry dragon fruit, mango citrus and we have a new one coming out for summertime— a kiwi strawberry. They’re slightly sweet and just really refreshing,” Zuba said.

The winery’s giant stainless steel tanks can be viewed from the dining area, as a reminder that Zuba and her team are always coming up with new combinations for blends. She’s decided to name their selections after birds in Montana, so if she comes across a cool bird name, she’ll start thinking about how the wine can best emulate it. But, her inspiration comes from all kinds of places.

“Sometimes it’s my mood, a lot of times it’s music or the weather. I look for inspiration in nature, and that sounds kind of corny and cheesy, but it’s just how I feel that day,” Zuba said.

Since opening in 2020, Zuba said they’ve expanded the business to include catering. She said her “answer is always yes” and that she’s open to everything, an ethos for her business overall.

“Because you need to be relevant and you need to be fresh, and you have to constantly be changing and evolving,” Zuba said. “That’s how we keep our audience engaged, you don’t just hang a sign that says ‘we’re open,’ it’s active. Hustle, promotion and getting out there being present in the community. I sit on multiple boards, I try to donate as much as I can back to the community.”

Zuba calls it a “givers game,” she said if she is always asking the community what they can provide to make people’s lives easier, they in turn might think of them when they want to go out somewhere.

It’s rare to see Zuba not working, according to her staff. But she’s not ready to slow down any time soon. She said when she thinks about the future of her winery and restaurant, she has goals of possibly expanding to other locations or getting a bigger kitchen to accommodate more catering events.“But, we’re not going anywhere, we’re here for the long haul,” Zuba said.

Water’s Edge Winery is set to be featured on “America’s Best Restaurants” sometime in June. That episode can be watched on “America’s Best Restaurants” Youtube channel or Facebook, and will also be posted to Water’s Edge Winery’s Facebook page.

To learn more about Water’s Edge Winery, visit their website www.wewinerykalispell.com/.

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com

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Montana

Harvey Cramb’s record highlights Montana State Bobcats’ performance at Tom Gage Classic

Published

16 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Harvey Cramb’s record highlights Montana State Bobcats’ performance at Tom Gage Classic

MSU Athletics and 406 MT Sports

MISSOULA — Another Montana State school record felled by a freshman highlighted the final regular season track and field meet of the year as the Bobcats competed at the annual Tom Gage Classic on Saturday.

“The Tom Gage meet is always a great way to finish off the regular season and prep us for the conference meet,” said MSU head coach Lyle Weese. “We had a lot of personal- and season-bests, which is a great sign as we head into championship season. Some student-athletes were fine-tuning certain elements for conference and others were taking the opportunity to break through to a new level with a big late-season mark.”

Harvey Cramb, a freshman from Brisbane, Australia, broke the MSU men’s 800-meter record with an altitude-converted time of 1 minute, 48.67 seconds. The record eclipses the previous mark of 1:48.88, held by Cristian Soratos since 2015.

Cramb also holds the No. 3 all-time mark for the Bobcats in the 1,500 meters (3:40.67) and the No. 7 all-time mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:49.54) in his first collegiate outdoor season.

“Harvey has not run many 800 races in his young career, so it was pretty amazing he was able to break the school record when he has only raced the event a handful of times, and ran the second half of the race alone,” Weese said.

In the women’s 1,500 meters, Belt native Lindsey Paulson won with an altitude-converted time of 4:25.28, the fifth-best mark in program history. The sophomore was followed by teammate Ava Weems, who finished in an altitude-converted time of 4:27.13, the 10th-best mark in program history. The Cats earned the top seven places in the event.

Plentywood native and MSU freshman Annie Kaul won the women’s 800 meters with a converted time of 2:09.42, the fourth-best mark in program history and the second-best time since 2017.

In the men’s pole vault, Kyle Yonker recorded his best outdoor mark as a Bobcat, clearing 16 feet, 6 inches to move into a tie for 10th all-time in program history.

Other MSU results

• Ben Saelens won the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase.

• Montana State went 1-7 in the men’s 1,500 meters: Rob McManus (1st), Sam Ells (2nd), Levi Taylor (3rd), Owen Smith (4th), Ben Perrin (5th), Matthew Richtman (6th) and Sam Smith (7th).

• Nyla Lee won the women’s 200 meters and placed third in the women’s 100 meters.

• Malikye Simpson placed second in the men’s 100 meters.

• Sydney Brewster won the women’s shot put, placed second in the hammer throw and placed third in the discus.

• Among collegiate entries, Elijah Jackman won the men’s hammer throw and the discus.

• Hailey Coey won the women’s long jump.

• Among collegiate entries, Destiny Nkeonye won the men’s long jump.

• Lina Hommel placed second in the women’s high jump.

• Maisee Brown placed second in the women’s pole vault.

• Emma Brensdal won the women’s discus and placed second in the shot put.

• Talon Holmquist won the men’s shot put.

• Cooper Hoffman won the men’s javelin.

• Clara Fox won the women’s javelin, with Angelica Street and Gracey Carter finishing second and third, respectively.

• Autumn Murray finished first among collegiate entries in the triple jump.

• Tristen Sedgwick finished second in the women’s discus.

Montana State will host the 2024 Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championships for the first time since 2012. The championship meet gets underway from Bobcat Track and Field Complex on Wednesday and continues through Saturday.