BUTTE – An informational public meeting was held Nov. 4 to discuss projects nominated for the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology’s Ground Water Investigation Program (MBMG/GWIP). The Ground Water Assessment Steering Committee is in the process of ranking the nine nominated projects including a project in Seeley Lake.
The Missoula County-City Heath Department nominated Seeley Lake for a groundwater study. In their nomination letter, the Heath Department explained that elevated nitrates were found in a 1998 study and continuous monitoring of test wells since 2004 has found ongoing elevated nitrates. At times test results have exceeded 10mg/L of nitrates, a violation of the state groundwater standards.
As a result of the elevated nitrates, the County implemented a Special Management Area that restricts new or expanded uses of property.
The Heath Department hoped that a public sewer would resolve the groundwater pollution. With the sewer project stalled, they are discussing a regulatory response to protect the groundwater.
The proposed study area includes the south end of Seeley Lake and the outlet of the lake south through Dog Town. The area extends east from the lake through downtown to the Seeley Lake Airport and south to the Whitetail Drive area.
“We’re in a spot where we have to make some decisions, you know, we have some obligation to not continue to approve development or things that would cause or contribute to that existing violation of the [groundwater] standard,” said Missoula City-County Health Department Environmental Health Manager Jeanna Miller. “We want to do that in a very thoughtful and informed way and we just need more information.”
Miller noted that since there is a public water supply serving much of Seeley Lake there are not very many wells for the County to access for additional information on the groundwater.
The Steering Committee questioned about why the population showed a decline in the study area when most projects concerning development and groundwater pollution show increasing populations. While there wasn’t a clear answer, Miller said it didn’t surprise her because of the lack of new development due to the Health Department’s current restrictions.
“While a lot of our County has enjoyed, in some sense of the word, a development boom and the opportunities that could come from that, Seeley Lake just hasn’t and it’s because we have evidence in front of us that there is a contamination problem and that is linked to residential and commercial onsite wastewater treatment,” said Miller.
The draft rankings from the prioritization matrix puts Seeley’s project tied in third out of the nine nominated projects. The Steering Committee will meet Nov. 15 to award their discretionary points to the projects to complete the rankings. Once the projects are ranked, the MBMG/GWIP will identify how many of the projects it can take on.
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