Like most grocery stores around the holidays, some items sell out faster than others: prime rib, eggnog and gingerbread cookies, to name a few. But at the Rosauers in Libby, one item is outpacing them all: bottled water.  Two weeks before Christmas, Lincoln County was struck by some of the wors t flooding in decades following massive storms that wreaked havoc across the Pacific Northwest. The flooding also impacted the city of Libby’s drinking water reservoirs, resulting in an order for residents to boil their water that has continued into the new year and is expected to remain in place for weeks, according to local officials.  Bernadette Place, the store manager at Rosauers, said this week that the store typically sells two or three pallets of water each week, but in the month since the flood, the store has gone through more than 50 pallets. Each pallet holds 84 cases, each with 24 bottles. It all adds up to a lot of water.  But water flying off the shelves isn’t the only impact the boil order has had on the store. While public health officials have advised the public that the city’s tap water is only safe to consume after it’s brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute, that isn’t always possible, Place said. For example, the grocery store’s coffee maker is connected to the building’s water supply, so the deli hasn’t been able to sell coffee. The misters that keep produce fresh are also directly tied to the building’s water supply, so that system has had to be turned off. Place said workers go around every hour to spray the fruits and vegetables with bottled water, but that method isn’t always as efficient, particularly at night. As a result, Place said, some produce has gone bad and had to be discarded.  “You don’t realize how much water you actually go through until you stop and think about it,” Place said.  Tammy Brown, owner of Diane’s Restaurant in downtown Libby, said that she constantly has two massive pots of boiled water on the stove in the kitchen so that her crew can wash produce and perform other tasks around the kitchen. She’s been buying a few bags of ice and cases of bottled water every day for patrons and to make coffee and tea.  It’s a similar story around the corner at Cabinet Mountain Brewing Company, which opened in 2014 and has been known as “Libby’s Living Room” ever since.  “It’s been challenging,” said owner Kristin Smith. “It’s definitely cost us money.” Like Diane’s, the brewery has been offering customers bottled water and using treated water in the kitchen. Because the bar rinser (used to freshen up pint glasses before receiving what Smith calls “the nectar of the gods”) is connected to the city’s water supply, bartenders haven’t been able to use it since last month. Smith said they were also unable to brew beer for about two weeks after the flood because it was unclear whether the brewery could safely use the city water to clean its tanks, Smith said. The brewery subsequently learned, however, that it could resume operations because the water used is boiled and treated during the brewing process.  With the boil order likely to continue for a few more weeks, the state of Montana has been covering the cost of bottled water distributed at the VFW in downtown Libby, said Boyd White, head of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency. That water is available daily from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Boyd has been coordinating much of the recovery effort and is particularly focused on figuring out how the local community can secure state and federal funding. Shortly after the flood, the federal government released $5 million for the recovery, but that money did not go directly to the local community. Instead, those funds were allocated to the federal agencies responding to the incident, like the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last week, staff members from FEMA visited Libby to assess the damage. Boyd said if the damage and clean-up effort exceeds $2 million — and it likely will — the county would be able to apply for additional funding. Boyd said he’s also in the early stages of working with the state to identify funding to help individuals and businesses, possibly through low-interest loans, to help with the costs incurred from the incident, like having to buy pallets of bottled water.  In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town. The post A month after severe flooding in Libby, an order to boil drinking water continues to challenge city residents and businesses appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less