County learns about new septic waste process

New technology that injects septic waste into decomposing material at the landfill may be feasible for Flathead County, county officials learned this week.

Consultants with the Smith Creek Bioreactor Landfill in St. Clair, Mich., were in Kalispell Tuesday to conduct a half-day workshop on bioreactor technology. They also made presentations to the Solid Waste Board, the county commissioners and Flathead Electric Cooperative.

The Michigan bioreactor landfill is the first of its kind in the United States and showcases a system that is an alternative to the traditional field application of septic effluent. Injecting the effluent into landfill material allows faster decomposition, in addition to reclaiming airspace and increased landfill gas generation to produce electricity, Smith Creek Landfill Director Matthew Williams told the commissioners.

“This was purely about education,” Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said about the workshop. “This is cutting-edge technology and it’s fascinating, but it’s still in the research and development and demonstration stage. There’s a lot to learn.”

In Flathead County, septic effluent from about 22,000 septic tanks is spread on local farmland, and the amount of available farmland has decreased due to subdivision growth over the last couple of decades. There’s also a growing concern of the potential health hazard of dumping 2.7 million gallons of raw sewage each year on local fields.

“My sense is this has been a concern of the [county] Health Board for some time,” said Mayre Flowers, program director of WasteNot, a cooperative effort of the Solid Waste District, Flathead Valley Community College and Citizens for a Better Flathead.

WasteNot and the Citizens group received a $5,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality to bring the Michigan consultants to Kalispell.

Williams said the landfill gas collection has been once of the biggest benefits of the bioreactor system.

“Eight percent of our total waste is producing nearly 40 percent of the landfill gas,” he said, adding that the Smith Creek septic technology generates more than $750,000 annually in gas sales.

Four years ago, Flathead County’s Landfill Gas-to-Energy Facility, a joint project between the landfill and Flathead Electric, began collecting methane gas — a byproduct of decomposing trash — and converting it into electricity.

Flowers said as the cooperative looks at adding a second generator to produce electricity, it’s timely to explore the bioreactor technology.

Smith Creek Landfill’s bioreactor facility was a multi-million-dollar project that tapped into grant funding aimed at water-quality preservation and was eligible for low-interest loans because of the project’s “green” status.

Flathead County likewise could pursue “some pretty significant funding at low interest,” Flowers said.

WasteNot’s search for alternatives to land application of septic effluent stemmed from a proposal made a year ago by a local builder to construct a regional septic effluent treatment facility near the head of Flathead Lake. There was no buy-in from either government officials or local septic haulers for that proposal, even though County Health Officer Joe Russell warned that applying waste on open fields one day will come to an end. He said getting septic waste into a treatment facility is “a necessary thing.”

In Michigan, state law had to be changed to allow bioreactor systems, Williams said, but Montana law already allows such technology.

“If Flathead County is looking to explore this, state regulations are already in place,” he said.

If the Solid Waste District Board, county commissioners and Flathead Electric decide to pursue a bioreactor facility, the next step probably would be a feasibility study to produce “hard numbers,” Flowers said.

Prunty said discussions with the solid waste officials at the state Department of Environmental Quality also would be necessary, but at this point it’s difficult to know if or how the county would pursue such technology.

“There would need to be some major analysis,” he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.