COLUMBUS - Many small towns in Montana seem to be growing faster than they can keep up with, but when I visited Columbus, Montana, I found out they literally could outgrow themselves.
Ron Barndt is the clerk and treasurer for Columbus. He said at just under 2,000 people Columbus is hardly a small town anymore.
"Even though I've lived here my whole life, there's many people I don't know," he said.
Looking at aerial photographs of the town through the ages shows how it's grown. Dennis Holten used to be a garbage collector. He said if he were to go back to his old route things would be a little different.
"There's a lot more collections. That's for sure," he said. "That's about it. There's a lot more garbage. Garbage is garbage."
Soon there will be even more garbage. A developer is looking to add about 220 new homes.
"With 220 lots you're looking at about 600 people that's almost 1/3 of the town's population right there," Holten said.
He added that more people could mean trouble for the town's water supply.
"You just need more of it," Holten said.
"That's it."
Currently Columbus has two water pumps. If one of them goes out the whole town could be in turmoil.
"I'm concerned," Holten said. "Sometimes you don't sleep at night because if a pump goes out you got to get something in the newspaper say hold off till this pump gets fixed."
They dug a new well this summer that they hope will be working by next summer. But it's not just the water that could be a problem. The town's sewage could also back up. They put in a whole new system in 1998, but even the upgrade could soon be outdated with a new subdivision. Holten said these basic problems are seen all over the country.
"In every small town, I think you'll see that the water lines are deteriorating or undersized, sewage lines are small, and are getting infiltration from roots things like that. Infrastructure needs are big for small towns."
He went on to say that infrastructure like water and sewer lines can actually limit the amount of growth a town can see. If there's not enough water, no one else can move in. They're asking the developer to pay a lot of money up front to improve the town's water supply before he can develop.