Groups Fund Study of Wastewater Issues in Big Sky
As seen in the October 29, 2007 edition of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle
By WALT WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer
A coalition of groups ranging from environmentalists to developers have agreed provide up to $60,000 to pay for a wastewater study in the Big Sky area, in an effort to protect the Gallatin River.
Calling itself the Wastewater Solutions Forum, the coalition hired HKM Engineering of Billings to evaluate a range of alternatives for treating and disposing of wastewater in the U.S. Highway 191 corridor. The study should be finished by May.
The Big Sky County Water and Sewer District already covers most of Big Sky, but many of the homes, businesses and new properties in the Gallatin Canyon use individual septic systems.
“There is an area of development all along the highway corridor that is served by on-site septic and no central sewer,” said Ron Edwards, director of the Big Sky Water and Sewer District.
The concern is that the wastewater from those individual systems will end up in the Gallatin River and possibly degrade its water quality.
HKM Engineering will examine wastewater treatment options and how to properly dispose of the treated effluent.
One possibility would be to link those properties to the water and sewer district, where the wastewater could be treated at the district's plant and used to water a golf course or for snowmaking.
“What we are trying to find out is, what is the financial feasibility of putting a line in and the technical feasibility of putting a line in,” said Jon Holtzman, chairman of the Blue Water Task Force, a nonprofit group in Big Sky that advocates responsible growth.
The bulk of the $60,000 cost for the study will be covered by the Big Sky resort tax and the sewer and water district. But local developers and conservation groups will provide around $10,000.
Contributing developers include Bostwick Properties, Simkins Holdings and Bill Schwab. Contributing conservation groups include American Wildlands, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Madison-Gallatin chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Big Sky and the area around it is experiencing rapid development, and concerns about the effects of that growth on the Gallatin River prompted a movement to designate the waterway an Outstanding Resource Water, or ORW, between Yellowstone National Park and Spanish Creek.
ORW status, a state designation, would give the river the greatest possible protection from point-source pollution - pollution that comes from a single source, like a pipe - under state law.
However, some developers feared it would slow down economic growth around Big Sky. So earlier this year the conservation groups supporting the designation agreed to put the idea on hold to work out a solution agreeable to everyone.
Scott Bosse of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said the Wastewater Solutions Forum is an alternative that could have more community support than an ORW status because several groups are contributing to the study.
Walt Williams is at wwilliams@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.
