SEELEY LAKE - From up and down the valley, folks tell us about the value and virtue of ‘clean water’ and the chemistry of sewage. We’ve funded studies and drilled wells to show what we already knew: Sewage affects water quality and should be regulated.
The proposed sewer is a device that will allow folks to improve or profit on property investments and at the same time comply with Missoula County’s restrictive septic regulations. The debate is about cost and methods, not if we want clean water or not. Will this method have best results for money spent? At what point do monthly utility bills become so high it becomes detrimental to the community?
Opponents aren’t opposed to development or sewers and we want ‘clean water’. We’re opposed to THIS sewer for the same reasons that were obvious in the beginning: Too few users to support the $20 million cost and those few users scattered in a way that doesn’t allow efficient collection, and then pump every drop UPHILL to the airport for treatment. No matter the financial contortions and the county spitting $100K into the bucket at the last minute to make it more affordable for Phase 1, this method is too expensive and will do little to improve water quality in the lake itself.
Consider this: IF everything goes perfectly, IF for the first time cost estimates are right, IF enough people commit to ‘hooking up’, IF no cost over-runs or construction mistakes, IF no legal glitches in acquiring rights of way, IF more free money comes from the feds, IF all that happens, some folks in Phase 1 will have a sewer...sometime. And as a percentage of household income, maybe the highest sewer bills in the nation.
Anyone in Phases two, three and four, don’t forget to add onto your future bill $27/month MORE than a bill in Phase 1, for every month for all the years you’ve already paid toward providing Phase 1 with sewer while waiting for yours. That could be a while, so figure in the interest. The plan for your sewer has NO numbers except for being dependent on lots of free federal money and wishful thinking during a time of federal tax cuts and determination to cut budgets and programs everywhere.
This project is not the right way to improve water quality or help the community. There are better ways with better results for less money. We could be well along toward that end by now if the sewer board and others hadn’t promoted this as the only way.
Vote like you’re signing a contract…because you are.
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