Missoula’s Condemnation lawsuit against Mountain Water Company continued today, March 19, with the city’s chief Administrative Officer, Bruce Bender on the stand. During interrogation by the city’s attorney, Bender stated that the water system can have over a 50 percent leakage rate and that this was a worrying sign, a “canary in the coal mine.”

"The pipe distribution system is aging, it needs to be replaced, its leaking, and yet we are not responding to it, because its going to cost too much," Bender said. "That's the most significant problem here... how do you afford to do all this replacement? With this 100 Million dollars worth of pipe structure."

Bender said that aging infrastructure in the hands of a private company was a “Gold Mine.”

"The problem with that, is that it is a gold mine for a privately held, profit orientated company, because its a great opportunity to make a lot of money on this replacement, because you can raise rates, justify that this needs to be done."

According to Bender, Missoula’s Water system is extremely desirable to private companies because the Public Service Commission nearly always approves of rate hikes to fund capital improvements.

 

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