Farm Road dust raised complaints

Paul Abel told the Flathead County Health Board Thursday that trucks bearing Bigfork sewer sludge have created a health threat from dust on Farm Road in the lower valley.

"It's just getting to be unbearable," Abel said.

Abel, a Farm Road resident, said he came to the health board after getting no satisfaction from the Bigfork Sewer District or the Flathead County Road Department. Abel wants the district to pave the road.

Voters recently approved a $2.5 million expansion of the Bigfork sewer system along Montana 35.

"There have been hundreds and hundreds of lots approved to hook up to the sewer," Abel said.

He said that not enough attention was given to the impact on lower valley residents. Abel said many of the sewer and planning board members had no idea that sludge leaves the treatment facility near the bowling alley in Bigfork.

Abel called it a "dirty little secret" that the district hauls Bigfork's sludge for injection into 360 acres it owns along Farm Road near the county garbage site on Montana 82.

"As we speak, an applicator truck is going up and down Farm Road," he said.

According to Abel, the treated sludge comes to the site aboard 18-wheeler tanker trucks which deposit the sludge into storage tanks. During spring, summer and fall, the injector truck injects the sludge in the wheat and barley fields.

He told the health board that he hadn't noticed an odor problem with the process. His complaint centers on the pulverizing of the dust by the trucks which becomes airborne, creating a haze over a large area.

Abel said he calculated that the sewer district could pave the road for $100,000. With all the new customers, he figured a $1-a-month assessment would pay the cost of the paving within a few years.

He said that he has been pleading before several public boards for some relief.

"The road gets so dramatically dirty that you would think that you were in a fog," Abel said.

In answer to questions from the health board, he said he had contacted Charlie Johnson at the county road department. He said Johnson said the county had no money to pave a road used by so few residents.

County health department director Joe Russell said the state Department of Environmental Quality has the authority to address hazards created by dust. He said his department could alert the state about the lower-valley problem.

Russell clarified that the Bigfork Sewer District disposes treated, dewatered sludge, not raw sewage, on the lower valley acreage. He called spreading the nutrient-rich sludge a very good process for conditioning the fields.

Abel said the district applies the sludge on 30 acres on a rotating basis. His complaint centered on the dust raised by trucks rather than any concerns about the injecting process.

Abel said he fears the explosive growth of sewer customers means a worsening dust problem ahead.

"The dust filters through the whole airshed," he said.

He called lower valley residents victims of a problem that begins in the million-dollar residences of Eagle Bend, Marina Cay and other upscale areas of Bigfork.

"Someone just has to step up and take some action," Abel said.

During the discussion of the problem, board members agreed that the dust problem needed a solution. Doug Smith, a Bigfork resident on the health board, said he would have no problem paying a small fee to pave the road.

Board members agreed with Russell's suggestion that the board send a letter asking the Bigfork Sewer District to abate the health hazard created by the dust along Farm Road.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com