Bozeman officials propose building dam

City officials in Bozeman want to build a dam on Sourdough Creek to supply enough water to allow the city to double its population to about 80,000. ``We're anticipating 10 to 15 years to make this thing happen,'' Mayor Jeff Krauss told the editorial board of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. City engineer Brian Heaston said the city's current water system can handle about 57,000 people. Heaston said the dam would be built downstream from the old Mystic Lake dam, which was breached by a landslide in 1984 and knocked down in 1985. The dam would cost up to $50 million, officials said, and create a reservoir with a surface area of about 100 acres to meet water demands. ``Our responsibility is to see a little farther down the road,'' Krauss said. ``We know conservation efforts will only go so far, and we need to incorporate water-supply planning into those efforts.'' Officials also said the city has a water storage right on Sourdough Creek of 6,600 acre feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre with water 1 foot deep. But officials said they could lose that water right if they don't start using it...more