MEDICINE LAKE, Mont. - It will take 12 years and $225 million to complete a regional water system project in northeast Montana, a proposal which many thought was nothing more than a unobtainable pipedream. Today, the project, over a decade in the tabletop planning process, is making headway during Phase 1 construction.

The project, a joint effort of the Dry Prairie Rural Water Authority and the Fort Peck Tribes will provide clean, quality drinking, household and livestock water throughout northeast Montana.

"We have struggled with obtaining a good water quality for years and have spent thousands and thousands of dollars trying to get it. This project will make an outstanding difference in our economy," said Tim Hustlar, mayor for Medicine Lake. Much of the well water used in the region contains high concentrations of nitrates, rust, salt, sulfates, bacteria. It's also smelly.

On Monday, crews began the boreing process taking place under Medicine Lake's Wildlife Refuge and lake. There, they worked a flexible 500-foot polyethylene pipe some seven feet below the water line. The 18-inch diameter, 3-inch thick pipe, which weighs 50 pounds per foot, will parallel Montana 16, running north and south and will serve to bring fresh water to the towns of Medicine Lake and Froid as well as 325 rural farmsteads.

By 2016, the project will service more than 6,000 residences in Daniels, Valley, Sheridan and Roosevelt counties. Phase 1 project construction, officially beginning last fall and halted by winter, will be the most costly of the five phases. The Water Authority plans to have the first 28 miles of piping complete by September. Installation will resume near Culbertson within the next few weeks.

The bid for the project was awarded to Carstensen Contracting of Pipestone, Minn. To date, only 10-percent of the piping is on location with the other 90-percent slated to arrive by truck from Nebraska.

The water supply will be taken from the Culbertson Water Plant as an interim to the treatment plant installation slated to occur near Poplar in the next several years. Once operational, the system will be capable of producing 13 million gallons of water each day and will flow through 3,200 miles of pipeline. The intake system, which will utilize Missouri River water, will be set up near the river on the outskirts of Wolf Point.

Board members are planning a May trip to Washington D.C.

"Our objective is to press the powers that be to work our way into the President's budget. It will be a large hurdle to overcome," said Clint Jacobs, project coordinator. All previous allocations have come from the House. Now they are seeking support from the administration.

Jacobs said that the board is confident that funding for the project will continue because of the size and cost of the project. "We just don't want to see the money trickle in small amounts. We want it to come in figures we can accomplish something with," Jacobs added.

The feds will fund 100-percent of on-reservation costs as well as 76-percent of the cost off the reservation. Remaining expenditures will be absorbed by the state of Montana and local users who, on average will pay $40 a month for service. They also have paid a $100 good-intention fee and will pay $400 for hook up. Annual operation costs are projected to cost $2.1 million.

When the water is turned on, a ribbon cutting ceremony will take place.

The customers closest to the North Dakota border slated to receive service are the State Line Casino and the Montana portion of Fort Union.

Project coordinators and other local dignitaries are hoping the system will attract new businesses and industry. In other states, regional water systems have effectively stabilized economies and populations.

The regional water system was authorized by Congress in 2000.