But when the city council checked into drilling one main well to serve everybody, what it learned came as a surprise. Small as it is, Amidon is just big enough to qualify as a public utility because the well would serve more than 25 people. That's about the town's population, plus there are 10 people at the courthouse and another 13 at the school. That means that the water would have to be routinely sampled, tested and maybe treated. Instead, the town council will poll residents to find out how they feel about hooking onto the Southwest Pipeline, a regional water distribution system that starts at Lake Sakakawea and already runs east of Amidon.
Money is an issue.
Most people in Amidon qualify as low income, according to a survey done by the Roosevelt Custer Regional Council out of Dickinson, and no matter where water comes from in the future, it's going to cost more than it does now. Shirley Bentrup, grant administrator for the Community Development Block Grant program, said 76 percent of the people in Amidon are in the low-income category. Bentrup said the grant money could be available to pay for pipes to the houses, courthouse and businesses if people decide to go with Southwest Pipeline water instead. It could go either way. Jim Lennington, Southwest Pipeline project manager for the State Water Commission, said the city will have to decide what to do fairly soon.