Sewer District Should Inform Voters

It has come to my attention members of the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board are putting out misinformation about the Sewer Proposal which we will be voting on in December. One member has been saying, “If we don’t put it (the sewer) in now the “state” will come in and make us do it later and it will cost more.” That is mostly incorrect. Here’s why:

The State must show demonstrable environmental degradation before it can “mandate” a clean up and it must show beyond a shadow of a doubt where the degradation is coming from. It cannot.

Seeley Lake is probably in better shape than Salmon, believe it or not even though there are more than a hundred lakeshore residents on Seeley and less than two dozen on Salmon.

Why the difference? Probably because Salmon Lake gets all the pollutants from Owl Creek, Placid Lake residents, Morrell Creek residents, Trail Creek residents, Clearwater Riverfront residents and the golf course, NONE of which are in the Sewer District. Seeley Lake should more correctly be called a lagoon because both the inlet and outlet are towards the north end of the Lake...so pollutants from Seeley Lakeshore residents are probably mostly stored in the mud on the lake bottom.

The study data used to determine Seeley Lake needs a central sewer system is probably flawed because some of the study data was taken at the Dog Town bridge. While that is in the Sewer District, the water samples there contained the pollution from all the upstream users on the Clearwater Riverfront who are NOT in the district.

Further, the study data did not determine definitively WHERE the nitrates and phosphates are coming from.

Remember Lake Inez is upstream and could be contributing. Remember also, nitrates occur naturally. And remember, finally, there is nearly 15 feet of mud in Lindey’s Bay which STORES pollutants from probably a hundred years ago.

Finally, there is a provision in state law which says the “state” cannot mandate a service on a local government entity without providing the funding for it.

Sewer Board members have an obligation to inform the voters about this project and give good information about what the project will do and how much it will cost to do it.