‘We all have an interest to address this issue’
By Fischer Genau DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
A failing private septic system serving the 216-home Firelight Meadows development south of Big Sky’s Town Center has been flagged as a threat to water quality, prompting homeowners to form a new sewer district and pursue a connection to Big Sky’s main wastewater treatment system.
Firelight Meadows operates its own septic system, separate from the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District. Officials and environmental experts say the system can no longer adequately treat wastewater—in fact, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality declared it non-compliant with environmental standards a decade ago—resulting in elevated nutrient levels that may pose risks to the Gallatin River and Big Sky’s drinking water supply.
“It’s a top priority for all parties involved,” said Johnny O’Connor, general manager of the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District. “We’re at the table trying to actively work through solutions.”
Firelight Meadows was built in 2003, when the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District was under a development moratorium and unable to accept new connections. As a result, the developer constructed a separate septic system, privately owned and operated by Westfork Utilities, also known as HLH. That system was designed primarily for second-home owners who spent only part of the year in Big Sky, but over time, more residents have moved into Firelight units full-time, and the system became increasingly strained.
“It’s my home. It’s where I live. I love Big Sky, and we have a problem.”
Becky Brockie
In 2015, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality determined that the septic system could not adequately treat wastewater and ordered Westfork Utilities to upgrade it. A decade later, the system remains out of compliance with state wastewater treatment standards, and nitrogen is not being treated adequately, according to O’Connor.
“The Firelight Meadow septic system essentially is polluting the groundwater that runs from Firelight Meadows to the West Fork of the Gallatin River,” Kristin Gardner, chief executive and science officer for the Gallatin River Task Force, told EBS.
The Gallatin River was designated as impaired in 2023 by Montana DEQ after several years of excessive pollution-induced algal blooms, and experts have been trying to determine the causes of increased nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the waterway. While the river is not exceeding permitted levels for nitrogen or phosphorus, environmental groups say rising nutrient concentrations remain a concern.
A recent study by the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology examining water resources in and around Big Sky identified Firelight Meadows as a likely source of excess nutrients, Gardner explained.
“It was a light bulb to our organization that wow, okay, it appears that the pollution going to the West Fork is likely not associated with the golf course,” Gardner said. Furthermore, Big Sky Resort’s golf course had been involved in an environmental lawsuit surrounding alleged pollution from irrigation, and those allegations were recently disproven.
Gardner said that other sources, such as a sewer main leak, have not been ruled out and said further groundwater testing would be needed for certainty. Her primary concern, she said, is the quality of Big Sky’s drinking water, and while she also worries about the river’s long-term health, she noted that fish and aquatic insect populations appear stable.
O’Connor acknowledged the environmental risks but cautioned against describing the issue as pollution.
“When it comes to Firelight, you’ve probably heard some language get tossed around like ‘polluting’—it’s just not meeting current treatment standards,” O’Connor said. “We all want to improve that, we don’t want to have a liability sitting out there, and so we all have an interest to address this issue and hopefully come to a solution for public and environmental safety.”
With the situation hanging over the Big Sky community, Firelight homeowners are taking steps to address the problem themselves.
Finding a fix
One of those homeowners is Becky Brockie, who stepped up to lead the May 2025 ballot initiative and now serves as vice chair of the newly formed Firelight County Water and Sewer District.
“We’re just trying to fix this problem that we essentially inherited when the developer made the choice 25 years ago,” Brockie told EBS. “Fast forward 25 years and now we’re trying to clean up that choice.”
Brockie learned about the problematic septic system when she volunteered for the Firelight HOA to be more involved in her community. Soon after, she decided to get involved.
“The Firelight project is really a self-preservation project,” Brockie said. “It’s my home. It’s where I live. I love Big Sky, and we have a problem.”
In 2024, the HOA sought voter approval to create a new water and sewer district that would allow Firelight to pursue state and federal funding. Despite unanimous support, the measure narrowly failed after falling one vote short of a state-mandated turnout requirement. It passed the following year, and the Firelight Meadows County Water and Sewer District was formally created in May 2025.
The district’s main goal is annexation into the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District, which would allow Firelight’s wastewater to be treated at the area’s advanced Water Resource Recovery Facility. But a few things have to happen first.
“You’ve got a bunch of hurdles and stuff you have to go through,” Johnny O’Connor told EBS.
Since 2015, many different deals to fix the system have fallen through, according to O’Connor, largely due to cost and the involvement of a private utility owner. But he says that Firelight is now a “top priority,” and representatives from both sewer districts and Westfork Utilities met in December to discuss a path forward.
“When the cost is more than what 217 doors can afford, it really stalls things, and then when you’re dealing with a private entity, it’s not so easy,” O’Connor said. “We met with them so we could give them some guidance and help continue to move them forward to get momentum back on track with this project.”
The first step would be a preliminary engineering report, or PER, expected to begin in early 2026, which would evaluate annexation into BSCWSD and other possible solutions.
“Our next big step to better understand, A, are there any other options out there besides annexation? And B, if there are, what does that option cost compared to annexation?” Brockie said.
O’Connor estimates that upgrading the existing septic system would cost upwards of $20 million, which is a heavy financial burden for just 216 Firelight homeowners. Annexation is widely viewed as the most viable option, though it would take an estimated two to five years.
O’Connor said BSCWSD has redundant treatment capacity through plant expansion that could potentially serve Firelight, but he emphasized that current ratepayers would not be asked to shoulder additional costs of absorbing Firelight.
“We can’t ask our current ratepayers to pay for something that they’ve already paid for, so you have to ask the new people or the new development coming in to pay those fees in order to take on that risk and that liability,” O’Connor said.
Annexation would require agreement among all three parties—Westfork Utilities, the Firelight Meadows district and BSCWSD—as well as approval from their respective boards. If approved, Firelight’s wastewater would be redirected to Big Sky’s public WRRF.
After 10 years of Firelight Meadows going unaddressed, O’Connor, Brockie, and Gardner are all excited that the community is rallying around this issue.
“I’m excited that we’re heading in the right direction,” Gardner said. “It seems like the community wants to see the issue fixed, and it’s been great so far. It seems like it’s moving in the right direction.”
Brockie said that the collaborative effort speaks to how Big Sky comes together to solve problems.
“That’s part of the magic of this town,” Brockie said. “We don’t have a central government, and here’s the type of things our community does despite that.”
