County addresses storm water

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman presented a plan at Thursday's Bigfork Steering Committee meeting that would not only address storm water drainage problems in Bigfork, but also would reduce pollutants entering the bay.

Brenneman showed an aerial map of the Village area and described how water funnels from higher ground along Grand Drive down to a storm drain just above Bigfork's public dock.

Untreated storm water runoff - carrying pollutants - empties directly into the Swan River. Other drains along Electric Avenue also empty into the river, but the majority of water collects at the Grand Drive drain.

The overall plan would include installing new drains on the school parking lot and connecting the storm drain in front of resident Sally Janover's house to the main line running down Grand Drive. Currently, the drain empties into her front yard.

Details for the project are still vague, but the concept would have water collected at the top of Grand Drive running down to a collection basin for treatment and filtration. The filtered water would then empty into the bay.

Although the current system does not violate any Department of Environmental Quality

standards, Brenneman said fixing the storm drains was the right thing to do.

"What is the right thing for Flathead Lake?" Brenneman asked. "We need to take steps to control what we can."

The big hold up will be funding. The county is strapped for cash, and grant money won't be available until next summer at the earliest. Brenneman said a grant writer will be working to find funding and has targeted a DEQ grant that would pay 60 percent of the cost but would leave the rest up to Bigfork.

"The money just isn't there at the county level," Brenneman said. "Is the community willing to be a part of this? I don't think we are talking about huge amounts of money."

The Bigfork Steering Committee officially endorsed the idea. Brenneman will now take the proposal to the Flathead Basin Commission and to the Flathead Lakers. He also said the plan will move ahead to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for initial assessment.

"I intend to pursue this, but it's not a done deal," he said.