The Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Mont. is one of four clubs in the area that use reclaimed wastewater to irrigate the golf course. Two conservation groups and an environmental law firm sent the club a 60-day notice of intent to sue, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act. “[The Montana Department of Environmental Quality] approved this irrigation plan over a decade ago, and we have since used a robust testing regime that is above and beyond what is required by law,” responded Rich Chandler, the Yellowstone Club’s Environmental Manager.
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, the Gallatin Wildlife Association and Montana Rivers are poised to sue the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Mont., alleging the club is illegally discharging nitrogen into the South Fork of the Gallatin River, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported. The groups sent the Yellowstone Club a 60-day notice of intent to sue for the alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, according to John Meyer, Cottonwood’s Executive Director and the groups’ attorney.
Meyer said he sent the notice after a volunteer collected water samples at three spots below, above and in a tributary coming off the Yellowstone Club’s golf course, the Daily Chronicle reported. The results showed there were higher levels of nitrogen in the tributary running from the golf course, he said.
“The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has listed the South Fork of the Gallatin River as a water-quality impaired stream, which means the Yellowstone Club cannot apply for a permit to make the discharge legal,” Meyer wrote in a news release.
Over-irrigation of the club’s golf course with reclaimed wastewater is likely causing the nitrogen pollution, the Daily Chronicle reported.
Meyer wrote that he passed along the 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue to Montana DEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Daily Chronicle reported. Cottonwood plans to ask the U.S. District Court in Butte to bar the club from adding new sewer connections, he said.
“The water quality of the Gallatin River and its tributaries is more important than vacation homes,” Meyer said in a news release.
Rich Chandler, Environmental Manager for the Yellowstone Club, wrote that recycled wastewater is used for land application at Big Sky Resort’s golf course, the Spanish Peaks Golf Course, Moonlight Basin’s golf course and the Yellowstone Club’s golf course, the Daily Chronicle reported.
Many cities in Montana dispose of treated wastewater by discharging it into rivers, but people in Big Sky avoid this practice largely through spray irrigation, he wrote. Area golf courses are irrigated with the reclaimed wastewater, the Daily Chronicle reported.
The practice is widely used across the country to conserve water and be environmentally responsible with limited resources, according to Chandler.
“[Montana DEQ] approved this irrigation plan over a decade ago and we have since used a robust testing regime that is above and beyond what is required by law,” he wrote.
Chandler wrote that land application of recycled wastewater helps with soil infiltration and microbe uptake and provides nutrients for native plants, the Daily Chronicle reported. It also reduces the amount of fresh water pulled from a limited aquifer.
Under the Yellowstone Club’s spray irrigation plan, 80% of the water used for land application primarily comes from the broader community in Big Sky, the Daily Chronicle reported. The other 20% comes from the club itself, according to Chandler.
“We have a strong history of partnership with credible environmental groups, including collaboration on a recently approved water recycling effort that earned the support of American Rivers, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Trout Unlimited, Gallatin River Task Force, and more,” he wrote.
Chandler referred to a final snow making permit that the Yellowstone Club secured from Montana DEQ back in June, the Daily Chronicle reported. The permit allows the club to use recycled water for base-level snowmaking at its ski area.
C+RB reported on the plan at the time.
The process of snowmaking itself produces even cleaner water than what is applied to golf courses, according to the club. Staff added that it will also bolster snowpack, keeping water flowing later in the season, the Daily Chronicle reported.
The Yellowstone Club’s snowmaking proposal drew opposition Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, the Daily Chronicle reported.
“We have challenged that snowmaking permit in state court because we believe that the snow will melt and carry the pollutants to the South Fork of the Gallatin,” Meyer said.
Nutrient pollution in the Gallatin River is a factor in the growth of algae, which can impact aquatic life over time, the Daily Chronicle reported. Frequent blooms can cause a river system’s taxonomy to shift and deplete oxygen that young fish need.
Algal blooms have reappeared in the Gallatin River downstream of Big Sky every summer since 2018, the Daily Chronicle reported. This August, algae grew in pockets of the river’s main steam from its confluence with the West Fork to the Deer Creek area.
Cottonwood, Montana Rivers and the Gallatin Wildlife Association are also involved in Clean Water Act litigation against the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District, the Daily Chronicle reported. In 2020, the three groups filed a lawsuit claiming the district was irrigating the Meadow Village Golf Course with treated wastewater containing concentrations of nitrogen that “far exceed the amount approved by Montana [DEQ].”
The groups also claimed that wastewater holding ponds were leaking into the West Fork of the Gallatin River, the Daily Chronicle reported. In February, Cottonwood asked a federal court to bar the district from connecting new sewer lines.
“The judge asked us—both parties—how many sewer connections we’re talking about stopping,” Meyer said. “At that time, nobody knew. In the last couple weeks Big Sky provided us with information saying it is 94 sewer connections.
“The algal blooms are a strong indicator that our quality of life is diminishing, and we need to address the reasons why our quality of life is being diminished,” Meyer said. “Montana is the last best place and we are working to ensure it stays that way.”
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