A mid-March storm dumped heavy snowfall across much of Montana to the delight of skiers and a tentative sigh of relief to folks worried about the upcoming fire season. Despite the exceptionally mild winter, Montana’s snowpack at high elevations as of late March have fared reasonably well with near-average levels. Although snow water equivalents remain mixed at lower elevations, the Helena Valley area is slightly above normal (around 104%) as of late March. For nearly 20 years, the City of Helena has been working to promote sustainability and conservation projects throughout the community. One of the most interesting projects is the Red Mountain Flume; a 5-mile-long aqueduct system that diverts runoff water from spring snowmelt to Chessman Reservoir, supplying the City with a large portion of its treated water supply. The 103-acre Chessman Reservoir holds approximately 7 billion gallons of water. The Sustainability page on the City’s website states that “Without Red Mountain Flume feeding water to Chessman Reservoir the City would be reliant on the Missouri River Treatment Plant which costs over 500% more money and energy to operate.” Helena is in the middle of a large-scale flume improvement project. Segments of the flume where water travels in ditches, are set to be replaced to improve water retention. Water retention is a critical component of both public and private development. Retention ponds can be found throughout Mountain View Meadows engineered to mitigate the impact of a 100-year storm and release water at a rate that would run off of undeveloped land. That rate is intended to be equivalent to what the land would not have absorbed prior to the introduction of streets, sidewalks, buildings and other infrastructure. Streets, curb and gutters also play a key role in directing storm runoff to water retention facilities to eliminate flooding and negative impacts caused by severe weather events.