HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-25-19 Public Comment - P. Byorth (Trout Unlimited) - Riverside Sewer and Water DistrictFrom: Chris Mehl
To: Agenda
Subject: FW: Commission Resolution 4972
Date: Saturday, January 26, 2019 4:35:31 PM
Attachments: image001.png
TU Riverside Summary 20190125.pdf
Chris Mehl
Bozeman Deputy Mayor
cmehl@bozeman.net
406.581.4992
________________________________________
From: Patrick Byorth [Patrick.Byorth@tu.org]
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2019 1:56 PM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: Commission Resolution 4972
Dear Commissioners Mehl,
Thanks for taking a moment to speak with me about Riverside and Trout Unlimited’s hope to incorporate land
application into the mix as the City considers the conditions for annexation of the Riverside Sewer and Water
District. Attached is the brief summary I prepared for Mayor Andrus. I appreciate your willingness to share with
the rest of the Commissioners. Have a great weekend.
Patrick
[cid:image001.png@01D4B4A4.D7C316B0] PATRICK BYORTH | Montana Water Director, Western Water and
Habitat Project
321 E. Main Street, Suite 411, Bozeman, MT 59715
406.522.7291 | 406.548.4830 c | www.tu.org<http://www.tu.org/>
Patrick Byorth
Director of Montana Water, Western Water & Habitat Project
Trout Unlimited: America’s Leading Coldwater Fisheries Conservation Organization
321 East Main Street, Suite 411, Bozeman, MT 59715
phone: (406) 548-4830 • email: pbyorth@tu.org • www.tu.org
To: Bozeman City Commission
Date: January 25, 2019
Re: Riverside Sewer and Water District and Restoring the East Gallatin River
Introduction: For over a decade, Trout Unlimited has been improving streamflows and habitat conditions in the
East Gallatin watershed, securing instream flows leases in Bridger Creek, Sourdough Creek and the East Gallatin
River and reconnecting tributaries as far downstream as Dry Creek. Water quality is the primary impairment to the
locally treasured trout fishery exacerbated by low late summer streamflows.
The Problem: Riverside Sewer and Water District (RSWD) operates a wastewater treatment facility for 123 homes
and the Riverside Country Club. The RSWD facility was designed to treat sewage and irrigate a golf course with
treated wastewater, but the facility has never operated properly, disposing marginally treated sewage directly into
the groundwater less than 250 yards from the East Gallatin River. Montana Department of Environmental Quality's
(DEQ) East Gallatin TMDL report* estimated that the facility discharges about 20,000 gallons each day of
marginally treated sewage into the groundwater, without a permit, resulting in approximately 6.44 pounds per day of
nitrogen and phosphorus into the river, via groundwater. Although DEQ issued a violation letter in 2011, the plant
remains unpermitted and continues to discharge nutrients into the river. The popular local wild trout fishery suffers
the consequences of high nutrient loading, resulting in a persistent ammonia smell, high algal growth, and poor
water quality for miles downstream. During late summer low water conditions, water quality becomes so poor, that
trout appear to leave the reach below RSWD to Middle Creek near the airport. The City of Bozeman has been
negotiating with RSWD to treat its effluent at the Bozeman Wastewater Reclamation Facility.
The Solutions: To restore water quality, comply with state and federal law, and restore the health of the fishery,
multiple approaches are feasible and readily available:
1. Stop the illegal pollution: The City of Bozeman is working with RSWD to accept its effluent to be treated
at the state-of-the-art Bozeman Wastewater Reclamation Facility. Benefit: Removes a chronic source of
pollution.
2. Further treatment through land application: Routing treated effluent from Bozeman's Facility back to
RSWD for land application, as historically permitted, and to adjacent agricultural fields to further reduce
pollutants through uptake by plants and exposure to sun. Benefits: land application further reduces
nutrient loading into the river, reduces fertilizer inputs for turf or crop production, and reduce demands for
irrigation water on the river.
3. Improve late season instream flows: From late July to mid- September, river flows diminish, magnifying
impacts of nutrient loading in effluent. Irrigating with treated effluent rather than river water, would
enhance water quality and quantity. Benefits: More, higher quality water in the river improves the health
of the river and fishery, enhances dilution of remaining effluent, and would give the City more flexibility for
managing future demands for treatment.
Trout Unlimited respectfully requests that the Bozeman City Commission, in Commission Resolution 4972, direct
its staff and contractors to negotiate, analyze, design as a Condition to Annexation both a receiving pipeline for
RSWD effluent for treatment at the Reclamation Facility and a distribution pipeline from the Reclamation Facility
to RSWD to facilitate future land application of treated wastewater to the golf course and adjacent agricultural
operations.
*Montana DEQ. 2013. Lower Gallatin Planning Area TMDLs and Framework Water Quality Improvement Plan. Helena,MT: Montana Dept. of
Environmental Quality.