Dear Editor,
I take pride in knowing that Big Sky’s Water Resource Recovery Facility, or WRRF, treats wastewater to the highest standard for non-potable reuse. Our history of reusing 100% of our treated wastewater places us in a limited league of communities who do not discharge treated wastewater into a nearby river.
For many years, the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District held a discharge permit but chose instead to invest in infrastructure that allows treated water to be reused through irrigation and, more recently, snowmaking. These reuse investments are costly, but they reflect Big Sky’s commitment to protecting our aquifer and the Gallatin River.
The WRRF was built to meet the District’s existing wastewater treatment commitments, and its original design anticipated a future second phase. That expansion could extend high-quality centralized treatment to areas that might otherwise depend on smaller stand-alone systems. Firelight Meadows has demonstrated how problems with an individual, privately operated wastewater system can ultimately become a broader community concern.
Expanding the district’s existing water and sewer infrastructure could help address challenges such as Firelight while reducing the likelihood of similar problems in the future.
In my opinion as vice chair of BSCWSD, a TEDD/TIF district could provide an important funding tool for this work. It is particularly well suited to infrastructure because it can use a portion of the new property tax value created within the district to help fund public infrastructure improvements needed to support that growth.
That approach could help Big Sky invest in the water and sewer infrastructure needed to serve our community responsibly for years to come.
Al Malinowski
Big Sky, Montana
