by Michael Howell
The Ravalli County Board of Commissioners received an initial report and held its first public hearing on a proposed septage treatment and compost facility at the end of last month. The Preliminary Engineering Report was prepared by Morrison-Maierle and published on January 21, 2025.
The county applied for and received funding to produce the report which addresses the current situation by examining the planning area, which covers the whole county outside the municipal and public sewer systems located in Darby, Hamilton, Corvallis, Victor and Stevensville and the demographics of that area and documents the condition, performance and capacity of existing systems. The report goes on to assess the future situation based on population projections, septage flow and load forecasts and future environmental regulations.
Ravalli County Septic pumpers use six land application sites for depositing their Seepage, two in Missoula County and four in Ravalli County. Of the four located in Ravalli County one site has been in-active since 2020 and the other three are about 4.6 acres, 107 acres and 14 acres in size. Map courtesy of Morrison-Maierle.
The report was commissioned in the face of an impending shortage of disposal options as the Missoula Resource Recovery Facility has drastically limited its acceptance of out-of-county septage due to its own capacity limitations. In 2022, approximately 1,903,265 gallons of septage was received at the Missoula Resource Recovery Facility. From 2020 to 2022, the three-year average of out-of county-septage originating from Ravalli County was 64%, with the maximum being in 2022 when 66% of out-of-county septage originated from Ravalli County. In 2024, the city restricted out-of-county septage to about 947,150 gallons with an estimated 602,000 gallons being from Ravalli County.
Based on a sum of land application and municipally treated septage from Ravalli County, the county disposes of approximately 2,800,000 gallons of septage annually or 210 gallons of septage per year per septic system. Within the planning period it is anticipated that the annual amount of septage generated needing treatment or disposal will increase from 2,800,000 gallons annually to 4,165,000 gallons annually.
According to the report, there are around 13,328 septic systems in the county generating waste, approximately 3,000 of which have been installed since 2000. It estimates that the population of the county in rural areas is four times the population receiving municipal and public sewer treatment. The current population of Ravalli County is 48,299 and approximately 10,980 of these persons live within the municipalities and public sewer districts.
The report states that a steady growth scenario provides for realistic future populations that are based on long term trends. In this scenario it can be anticipated that the number of septic systems within the county will increase from 13,328 to 19,834 by the year 2045. This is approximately 310 new septic systems installed per year over the next 20 years.
Septic pumpings are required by law to be disposed of at wastewater treatment plants, a septage processor or composter, a landfill, or a land application site.
There are six licensed septic tank pumpers in Ravalli County. There are three active land application sites in the county, about 4.6 acres, 107 acres and 14 acres in size. A fourth site has been inactive since 2020.
A second public hearing to develop and evaluate alternatives is planned for March, 2025 and a third public hearing is planned for developing an implementation plan and project costs on April 8, 2025.
The report lists several items as background references to the septic pumping issues in Ravalli County including:
• Neighbors Concerned About Septic Waste Land Application- Bitterroot Star by Michael Howell, December 2016
• New Septic Permits on the Rise in Ravalli County- NBC Montana, November 2017
• No Place to Dump? Montana County Plans New Septage Dewatering Facility- Pumper, November 2022
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: An Exploration of Wastewater Issues and Possible Solutions in and out of Montana- Keely Inez Larson, University of Montana Graduate Student Thesis, Dissertations and Professional Papers, May 2023
• Valley Septic Pumpers Face Hard Times- Bitterroot Star by Michael Howell, November 2023
• What to do With All the Poop: County Considers Septage Disposal- Bitterroot Star by Michael Howell, January 2024
• County Looks for Septage Treatment Solutions- Bitterroot Star by Michael Howell, July 2024
Linda Schmitt says
Thank you, Michael Howell and Bitterroot Star for concise and clear article about sewage. I particularly appreciate your attention to the topic over the last several years. Much as we may prefer to hold our noses about the subject, we can’t look away and pretend the problem doesn’t exist. Thanks for the reminders.