Park treatment plant permit up for renewal

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is seeking public comments on its proposal to renew Glacier National Park's wastewater discharge permit for its Lake McDonald Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The plant, which is capable of handling 200,000 gallons per day, serves year-round Park employees and seasonal Park visitors in the Lake McDonald area, including the Park Headquarters area, Apgar Village, several campgrounds, an RV dump station and Lake McDonald Lodge. The system includes four lift stations and a 15-mile long main buried under the Going-to-the-Sun Road along Lake McDonald.

Wastewater is treated with batch reactors, a clarifier, filters and ultraviolet disinfection and then either sprayed onto a field near the Quarter Circle Bridge horse corrals or discharged into a swale within the field.

The groundwater beneath the field is hydrologically connected to Lower McDonald Creek and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, which are classified by the state as Outstanding Resource Waters.

The state has proposed more stringent requirements for all wastewater treatment plants in Montana, including new limits for biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids, e coli bacteria, ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus.

Public comments on the permit renewal may be mailed to DEQ Permitting & Compliance Division, Water Protection Bureau, P.O. Box 200901, Helena MT 59620 or e-mailed to WPBPublicNotices@mt.gov. Deadline is Oct. 19. DEQ will accept requests that a public hearing be held.

For more information, visit online at www.deq.mt.gov, choose "Public Interest" from menu bar, drag down to "Public Comments," then choose "Water Quality Permits" and find Glacier Park's request in the table.