Survey reportedly casts doubt on regional sewer district

By WALT WILLIAMS, Chronicle Staff Writer

Building a single sewer system servicing the area between Bozeman, Belgrade and Four Corners, where much of the county's growth will occur in the next few years, is not feasible according to a recently released survey of developer, planners and engineers.

Conducted by David Aune of Great West Engineering of Helena, the survey supports the conclusion of a study he previously completed on the practicality of a regional sewer system servicing the triangle of developable land outlined by the three communities.

However, only nine people responded to the survey, which was mailed to 24 people. Aune wrote that he sent the survey forms in March and still had not received returns from everyone who promised to fill them out, but “enough time has elapsed that I need to close the survey effort.”

The Gallatin County Planning Board commissioned both the survey and the study. While the survey didn't find much in the way of consensus among those who did replay, the results did support the idea that separate, centralized sewer systems for each of the three communities would be more feasible than a regional system.

Planning board members will continue to look at the issue.

“We're not to the point of making any decision regarding any kind of system,” planning board member C.B. Dormire said.

The survey results were presented Thursday to the Gallatin County Commission. No action was taken.

The county has been looking at the feasibility of a regional wastewater system since 2004, when Clinton Cain of Bozeman suggested that a single sewer system could service the valley from Gallatin Gateway to Belgrade, where a large sewer plant would be located.

Gallatin County agreed to spend up to $11,000 to study the issue, but Bozeman and Belgrade, each having its own sewer systems, didn't participate.

Great West Engineering concluded that such a system wouldn't be feasible when it studied the issue a couple years ago because of the rights of way needed to cross private land and the cost of building the system. The company's recent survey found that sentiment was common among people it contacted.

Among the questions in the survey, respondents were asked if they agree that a large wastewater system servicing the area was unfeasible, or if Belgrade should consider expanding its sewer system to cover outlying areas.

Water availability and sewer capacity has been an issue in the triangle. On Tuesday, county commissioners sent the developers of the proposed Wild Horse subdivision outside Belgrade back to the drawing board, saying the project's proposal to install 26 individual wells and sewer systems failed to fit the county's growth policy.

Aune didn't rule out the possibility of maybe three sewer systems servicing most of the area around Bozeman, Belgrade and Four Corners, which is already happening to an extent. Both cities have their own systems and can hook up new subdivisions annexed into the communities, while many of the subdivisions around Four Corners will be served by the Four Corners Water and Sewer District.

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