Two articles from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle announce our new strategy for securing long-term protection of the Gallatin River’s water quality (January 23, 2007 and January 24, 2007). These articles do a good job of explaining what has recently transpired, but we wanted to provide a bit more detail as to why and how American Wildlands made the decision to change course at this time.

In 2000, we believed an “Outstanding Resource Water” (ORW) designation was the best possible means to secure lasting protection for the Gallatin River. However, in recent years several significant changes have occurred that have given us cause to question the effectiveness of an ORW designation for the Gallatin:

*Six years ago, our most significant concern was the impact of the Big Sky Water and Sewer District discharge permit, and its affect on the river’s water quality. Since then, the district has invested in a state-of-the-art sewer treatment plant. This new plant is so effective that the district uses all of the treated water for irrigation, and has not needed to discharge any waste water into the river. In fact, as the ORW Environmental Impact Statement shows, the Big Sky Water and Sewer District is hardly a concern anymore; rather, individual septic tanks now contribute the most significant amounts of nutrient pollution to the Gallatin.

*In fact, when we initially filed our petition to designate the Gallatin an “Outstanding Resource Water,” an ORW designation would not have addressed the impact of septic systems on a river’s water quality. Due to recent court decisions in Montana, the state Department of Environmental Quality now considers the impact of septic systems when addressing a river’s water quality through an ORW designation. This increases the scope of who would be affected by an ORW designation, and raises questions about how ORW designation would be implemented.

*In the process of regulating new septic tanks, an ORW designation would limit the amount of pollutants allowed in the river, yet offer no solutions for meeting that limit. This situation would leave all those needing to implement the new regulations uncertain as to how to proceed – an uncertainty that had landowners and developers in the Big Sky community and along the river quite concerned.

*While an ORW designation would regulate the installation of new septic systems, it would not address existing septic tanks and thus existing sources of nutrients. These existing septic tanks are a significant source of pollution in the Gallatin, and would remain so even if the river was designated an “Outstanding Resource Water.” American Wildlands’ new strategy is, in large part, focused on addressing this shortcoming.

In sum, it became clear to American Wildlands that the net result of an “Outstanding Resource Water” designation would be to maintain the Gallatin’s current water quality without addressing existing sources of pollution, and in the process create a significant amount of animosity from landowners and developers in the Big Sky community and elsewhere along the river.

American Wildlands believes we can do better than this. By working with, not against, the community of Big Sky and landowners along the river, we have an opportunity to not only protect current water quality, but to improve it. The best practical solution is to get as many new and existing houses on a centralized sewer system as possible, and use the best available on-site waste treatment technology where it is not possible to connect to a centralized system.

This proactive solution requires planning and collaboration with citizens, businesses, and state agencies. Our first step has been to gather as much support for our new strategy as possible. To that end, American Wildlands has drafted a Memorandum of Understanding, which has been signed by prominent Big Sky developers, local conservation groups, and state agencies. Through the MOU, the co-signers have agreed to develop the most cost effective and environmentally beneficial means of protecting the Gallatin River’s water quality.

In order to create time to fully explore this new strategy, on January 26th, American Wildlands and the Department of Environmental Quality requested that the Montana Board of Environmental Review extend the ORW rulemaking process for six months to allow the newly formed alliance time to develop this new solution. The Board unanimously agreed and granted the extension. An “Outstanding Resource Water” designation remains an option, but for now we are pursuing a strategy we think serves the needs of the river better than an ORW designation.

We are confident that this new strategy will not only maintain the Gallatin River’s water quality, but will improve it above and beyond what would be possible through an ORW designation – while gaining greater community support for the river’s long term protection.