Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.

As Montana’s population grows, and with new residents building trophy homes in rural areas, septic service providers like Chad Frank are bumping into problems.

“All these (municipal) sewer plants are near maximum capacity,” said Frank, of R.L. Frank Septic Service in Laurel.

Consequently, his company is no longer allowed to unload the septage pumped from homes and businesses at sewer plants in small towns like Columbus, Roberts and Red Lodge, even though the surrounding lands are seeing continued growth.

“All these rural areas are blowing up,” Frank said.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality defines septage as: “the liquid and solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, or similar treatment works.” Frank said a home system, depending on its size, may require 1,000 to 3,000 gallons to be pumped every year-and-a-half to two years.

Portions of the Popp property where septage would be applied are highlighted in blue with no-spray areas designated in red.

One alternative to wastewater treatment facilities Frank and other haulers have found is land application of septage. In addition to providing some moisture, the septage is a source of nutrients for plant growth, substituting a farmer’s or rancher’s need for fertilizer.

Back East, Frank said farmers pay to have septage spread on farm fields. Here, he pays friends to allow him to spread septage on their property because it’s cheaper than the cost of taking it to wastewater treatment plants in Laurel and Billings.

The DEQ is currently taking public comment on Frank’s application for a license to apply septage to 199 acres of the Richard Popp property about five miles west of Park City. It would be Frank’s fifth land application site for septage in Stillwater County. The agency is taking comment through April 9.

In 2020, just under 24 million gallons of septage was applied to land in Montana, according to the DEQ. Another 14.5 million gallons went to publicly owned wastewater treatment plants while “minor amounts of dewatered pumpings” are dumped in landfills, the agency said.

That’s up from the 22 million gallons of septage the National Biosolids Data Project calculated Montanans applied to land in 2018.

Back then, 64% of all septage was applied to land, with almost 12 million gallons hauled to the 50 wastewater treatment facilities in the state accepting additional waste.

The Billings Wastewater Treatment Plant saw its intake of septage increase from more than 4 million gallons in 2019 to 4.7 million in 2021, according to Bruce Souder, Water Reclamation Facility manager. He added the facility prefers to take septage from inside Yellowstone County since it’s a city-owned facility.

Meanwhile, Flathead County is considering building a new regional septage plant and biosolids facility because its treatment plant is at capacity and the valley is so developed that haulers are running out of places to apply septage on land.

“Pumpers are facing much more public opposition to the land application of septage,” Mary Hendrickson, of the DEQ, told Onsite Installer magazine in a 2016 online article titled “Land application misunderstood in Big Sky country.”

“As developments emerge in rural locations, homeowners find the concept of land application distasteful and hazardous,” Hendrickson told the magazine.

“There’s still lots of land around here, luckily,” Frank said.

But in 50 to 100 years, maybe not, he speculated.

This is the basic design for a septic system, although there are different types and sizes based on the size of the business or home and the location of the system.

Still relatively rural, Stillwater County saw its population grow by about 500 people in the past 10 years to 9,600 residents. For these residents, the county sanitarian counts about 2,000 septic systems that have either been installed or upgraded since the 1970s. Still being developed, just west of the Popp property, are two subdivisions with about 300 lots.

How much septage has increased in Montana in the past decade or even five years is unknown, said Kevin Stone, of DEQ.

According to the National Biosolids Data Project, more than 20% of Montanans (roughly 213,000 people) rely on septic systems for their wastewater disposal. Nationally, the figure is about 60 million, or about one in five households. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates “more than 4 billion gallons of wastewater per day is dispersed below the ground’s surface” from septic systems. For comparison, that’s more than 6,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

“Water is a precious resource,” said Guy Alsentzer, executive director of the Upper Missouri River Waterkeepers conservation group. “I would argue this is the exact wrong direction we’re going.”

The issue of nutrients leaching from septic systems into the groundwater and nearby streams has been on the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper’s radar due to four years of algal blooms in the Gallatin River, downstream of the growing mountain community of Big Sky.

Likewise, the Flathead Valley for years has detected septic leachate containing bacteria, phosphorous and other ingredients from improperly maintained systems leaking into Flathead and Whitefish lakes, the Missoulian reported.

A 2015 U.S. Geological Survey study found “pharmaceuticals, hormones and personal care products associated with everyday household activities are finding their way into groundwater through septic systems in New York and New England.”

“Septic systems nationwide are receiving increased attention as environmental sources of chemical contamination,” USGS scientist Patrick Phillips, lead author of the study, stated in a news release.

Rising ground water levels along coastal regions is compounding the problem because septic systems need dry ground to properly function.

Concerns aren’t isolated to ground and surface waters, landowners across Maine are struggling with past septage applications that were contaminated with cancer-causing “forever chemicals.” The Maine Department of Environmental Protection plans to test more than 700 sites where farmers used the septage, according to a Maine Public Radio story.

“It's like a nightmare you can't wake up from,” the story quotes DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim telling lawmakers last month. “People's homes and livelihoods have been destroyed. And the scale of the tragedy keeps growing with every sample that we take."

Land along Lonesome Pine Road north of Young's Point near Park City is proposed for land application of septage. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on the proposal.

R.L. Frank Septic Service is looking for authorization to spread up to 500,000 gallons of waste each year on the Popp property, according to the DEQ draft environmental assessment. Frank said that’s a maximum, with his trucks likely spreading only a quarter to one-half that amount annually.

About 140 acres of the farm land would be used to grow corn, hay and beans. The rest would be dryland pasture. The property is adjacent to Interstate 90 and about a half mile from the Yellowstone River, which is on the other side of the highway.

“Land application by pumpers allows for safe disposal of septage without overloading Montana’s wastewater treatment plants,” DEQ writes in its draft EA. “Land application also reduces Montana farmers’ reliance on chemical fertilizers to improve soil.”

When properly done, land application of septage has “no adverse public health effects,” DEQ added.

Setbacks apply to where the septage can be applied, including 500 feet away from occupied buildings, 150 feet from any surface water or wetlands and 100 feet from public roads and drinking water sources.

The application is not supposed to exceed 28,846 gallons per acre each year for the pasture grass, which is equal to 1.06 inches of liquid, the draft EA noted. For the corn, hay and bean fields the application can be 38,462 gallons per acre each year, which is equal to 1.42 inches of liquid. It is recommended the application be rotated to allow plants to maximize their use of the nitrogen in the septage.

Despite the amount of waste, the DEQ concluded there would be no environmental impact. The agency and the Stillwater County sanitarian would conduct “periodic inspections of the site” to ensure compliance.

In 2021, at two of the four other properties where R.L. Frank applies septage, 212,500 gallons were applied. Septage applied to the two other approved sites in the county were not reported, according to the DEQ, which is not unusual given that the septage is also a fertilizer and may be used or not depending on a landowner’s crop rotation, the DEQ’s Stone said.

Concerns about the state’s population growth and rural development come as Montana and much of the West continues to suffer through an extended drought with little relief in sight for some areas. The Colorado River Basin has been especially hard hit, partly because demands on the waterway from cities and agriculture far exceed capacity.

With the current megadrought in mind, people need to be more thoughtful about how they dispose of wastewater, said Alsentzer, of the Upper Missouri Waterkeepers.

“Who is taking a look at the cumulative impacts?” he questioned. “How many of these systems exist in a watershed?

“This is a question of how do we grow in Montana.”

In a state that values waterways, for recreation as well as agricultural, municipal and residential use, Montana should be taking a cautious approach, Alsentzer said.

Derf Johnson, of the Montana Environmental Information Center agreed, saying his group shares concerns about land application of septage. He called the activity antiquated and the science in regards to its environmental and human health impacts "dubious."

Johnson pointed to the DEQ's alteration of water quality standards from science-based numeric limits as an example of the state's lack of planning in the face of continued growth.

"We're going to have to make some big decisions about whether we step up and make sure our water quality is protected, because the trajectory we're on is really frightening," he said.

Comments can be submitted electronically or by mail. To view the draft environmental assessment or to submit comment, visit the Montana Department of Environmental Quality website at: https://deq.mt.gov/News/publiccomment-folder/news-article65  

Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.

Montana Untamed editor for the Billings Gazette.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

As more people hike, fish and camp on public land in southwestern Montana’s Custer Gallatin National Forest, a new problem has arisen — the co…

Beyond the numbers – 45 bears trapped, 30 euthanized, 19 relocated – are some surprising details on bear behavior in the 2021 Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s annual Grizzly Bear Relocation Report.

Hiking to 21 lakes in the Beartooth Mountains was a fun way for Dan Pendergraph to spend last summer, but the trips had a disheartening downside.

Dan Pendergraph’s analysis reinforces the importance for backpackers, hikers and other wilderness users to filter their water. 

Multiple fire crews responded to a grass fire burning near the Yellowstone and Big Horn County border Saturday morning.

Land along Lonesome Pine Road north of Young's Point near Park City is proposed for land application of septage. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on the proposal.

Portions of the Popp property where septage would be applied are highlighted in blue with no-spray areas designated in red.

This is the basic design for a septic system, although there are different types and sizes based on the size of the business or home and the location of the system.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.