Commission tables septic facilities for further review

The Flathead County Commission hit pause Tuesday on a proposed contract to plan for and design a regional septic waste plant and biosolids composting facility.

With an unanimous vote, the commission decided to table the contract for an unspecified amount of time to further review the proposed nearly $700,000 agreement.

Commissioner Pam Holmquist said after the meeting that the board could revisit the contract as early as next week. The agreement would be with HDR Engineering in Billings and spearhead efforts to curb mounting waste and litter concerns in the valley.

“ … I have more questions than answers at this point,” Holmquist said ahead of the vote Tuesday. “It’s a big project and a lot of money.”

The contract encompasses multiple layers of planning and design that would include site selection, stakeholder and public meetings and ultimately, a final design and estimated project cost to build the facilities, according to meeting materials.

Additionally, the project would include odor control and effluent disposal. The septage plant annually would be capable of processing some 5 million gallons of waste and effluent for the county, according to the materials.

The composting facility for biosolids — a semisolid, nutrient-rich byproduct of sewage treatment — would service the septage plant, Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and potentially other neighboring communities, according to the materials.

Managing septic waste has become a pressing issue for the valley, with recent growth creating more waste, while sucking up available agricultural lands used to treat it.

Mel Cameron, owner of Mel’s Pumping Service in Columbia Falls, has been in the business for 40 years and looks to retire. Cameron said he otherwise could be forced into retirement if the valley continues to lose land on which to spread the waste.

“There is no other place to take it,” he said, later adding that similar companies in the area each maintain independent sites that are quickly disappearing.

“I spend as much time getting rid of this stuff as I do pumping it,” Cameron added, noting also that a regional facility would serve the area as major benefit. “That’s something we really need around here.”

Mickale Carter owns roughly 80 acres in rural Flathead County and allows Cameron to spread septic waste on her acreage to buffer sandy soils — and help Cameron, a family friend.

Cameron and Carter both took issue with another growing but related problem: flushable wipes. They’re getting everywhere, they said.

“Our field where (Cameron) dumps is literally covered with them,” Carter said, later adding that hypodermic needles, feminine products and other debris is littering the valley through such ground applications.

“The problem is just going to get worse and worse,” she said.

Carter called for the county to develop a separate plant to serve only rural residents.

To address growing wipes litter, Cameron said he ultimately created his own filtering trailer to help remedy the issue, though he admits some still slip through.

In 2020, Cameron said he spent more than $20,000 to clean up a wipes-laden field, stripping up vital topsoil in the process.

“This garbage is a real problem,” he said.

Reporter John McLaughlin can be reached at 758-4439 or jmclaughlin@dailyinterlake.com