Source: Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune
It has been an abnormally warm, dry winter, and the turf at Meadow Lark Country Club has been thirsty for moisture in any form.
But the golf course didn't need to receive 3 million gallons of water in a seven-hour period.
An aging city water main that runs beneath the golf course broke early Sunday morning, creating a huge lake between the No. 1 fairway and the No. 10 fairway at the private club located along the Missouri River in southwest Great Falls.
The break most likely occurred between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Sunday, said Bill Budeski, a pipelayer for the water department.
"They discovered they were losing pressure at the water department at about 3, and they sent a foreman out," said Budeski. "My foreman called me about 6 and we started looking over on Alder Drive.
"I got here (to the country club) about 6:30 and I could tell right away that this (temporary lake) wasn't the Missouri River."
Three million gallons is roughly 10 times the amount of water it takes to fill Mitchell Pool.
Budeski and fellow city employee Ron Holland spent most of Sunday pumping water from the golf course back into the Missouri. They used one 6-inch pump and two 3-inch pumps. They're hoping the water recedes enough today so that the exact spot of the break can be found and repaired.
Until then, the country club won't have any water available inside or outside.
Budeski said the 20-inch, cast-iron water main was installed in 1959 and stretches from the water treatment plant on the east side of the Missouri River all the way up to Gore Hill.
"It feeds the Fox Farm area all the way up to the water tower on Gore Hill," said Budeski. Low water pressure was reported across the Fox Farm area Sunday morning, but service was restored soon, said Budeski.
"Those couple acres that are flooded will be nice and green," said Dudley Beard, acting general manager at Meadow Lark. "We probably won't have our (golf course) irrigation system fired up until the middle of March, so at least we're getting some moisture that we need.
"But from a safety aspect, we need to get water turned on at the clubhouse. We're closed on Mondays, anyway, but we need to get the water turned back on."
Beard said MLCC chef Dan Foran arrived at the club around 7:30 to start preparing Sunday brunch, when he discovered the huge lake near the No. 10 tee.
"He called me and said the golf course was under water," said Beard, who said the accident wasn't serious enough to deter winter golfers, who simply skipped the three holes most affected by the water main break.
"We opened up the cart shed, and the guys went out and played 15 holes," said Beard.
Budeski estimated that up to 750,000 gallons of water per hour may have been discharged on the golf course between 3 and 10 a.m. MLCC Superintendent Kelly Gilligan said he was told more than 3 million gallons were dumped.
The club installed a new $1.5 million underground sprinkler system last spring, and Gilligan will be out with city crews today to make sure workers don't dig into the new irrigation system when they make repairs.