$3 million upgrade at sewer plant up and running

There is certainly more glamorous work out there, but the Bigfork Water and Sewer Department has gotten a big step up in the last few weeks thanks to a new $3 million equipment upgrade.

The new equipment and building — the first in a proposed four-phase project — expedites the first level of filtering and compacting of waste, increases capacity for future expansion and alleviates the staff of the least pleasant part of their job.

“We used to have to physically rake things out,” said Julie Spencer, head of the department. “It was very recognizable what it was you were raking.”

The updated machines not only self-clean their 2-millimeter filters, but are so much more efficient that instead of the department needing to haul a truck of compacted waste to the landfill every two months, now it will only need to happen about twice a year.

Though the vast majority of Bigfork residents are oblivious to what happens after a toilet flushes, Spencer said the upgrades and improvements make a big difference in something everyone in the community cares about: Flathead Lake.

“Like many people, we’re trying to keep the Lake clean,” said Spencer, whose plant discharges its treated wastewater into Flathead Lake below the Highway 35 bridge.

By the time the wastewater goes through multiple settling tanks, screens, “bio slime” filters, sand filters and UV filters, it looks as clean and clear as the water that comes out of a faucet at home.

“It’s been well-treated and is well within our permit,” Spencer said of the water that heads into the Lake.

What’s more, the new system has built in alarms that will notify department personnel at work or at home if there’s a problem with equipment or a sudden deluge, like the kind that overwhelmed the plant on July 4, 2007. That surge of wastewater required the use of a 250,000 gallon holding tank and letting some water bypass the final filtration stages.

Part of the new equipment includes a computer system that shows operators real-time information from each stage of the process that is accessible on the premises or at their homes while they’re on call.

Now Spencer is looking toward the next phase of the upgrade and overhaul of the 25 year old plant — a membrane bioreactor that will treat the water even further than it is now, a needed change since the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is preparing to hand down a revised permitting process with much stricter standards that the plant will have to comply with.

Spencer estimated the construction of an additional building and the new equipment will cost between $4.5 and $5 million. The department is currently applying for grants and a piece of the stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama.

“It (the new facility) is going to have to happen,” Spencer said. “We’re working diligently for grant money.”

Spencer said that any cost over and above grants would likely be taken in the form of loans and customers would probably be asked to pass a bond levy rather than see a spike in their bills.

The sewer department can’t be faulted for not being creative with ways to bring in money, though. They own 370 acres around and behind the Somers Green Box site on Highway 82, where sludge from the plant is injected into the soil and crops are grown and sold to the benefit of the department. Last year Spencer said they grew wheat and peas.