Big Sky is one of the few Montana communities that have never – ever – used a discharge permit to dispose of their treated wastewater into a surface water, and gave up their original discharge permit over 15 years ago.
The Voice of the River
A sustainable watershed relies on community vision, collaboration, and execution
The intent of the plan to expand the district is to put into place nearly five miles of sewer main along Highway 191 and throughout the canyon corridor, effectively retiring old septic systems that present notable human and health risks. A central sewer system introduces several significant benefits, including better treatment and management of community wastewater.
A Community’s Connection to the Watershed
What do we actually know about how we are connected to our watershed? How does the connection between precipitation, absorption, runoff, evaporation and consumption play out through our daily use of water, whether for personal or commercial use, recreation, irrigation, or otherwise?
FAQs: Gallatin River Middle Segment Impairment Designation
Based on a review of best available science from the past 10 years, and data collected by the Gallatin River Task Force, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a preliminary determination that the middle segment Gallatin River is impaired.
Understanding Algae Blooms on the Gallatin
If you have spent time along the Gallatin, you have undoubtedly seen for yourself or heard the chatter about long, stringy green algae growing on rocks throughout the river. This is an algae called Cladophora glomerata (Cladophora). Cladophora is naturally occurring...
Fix A Leak Week
Did you know leaks in your home could be wasting thousands of gallons of water each year? In fact, according to an accountability study through the EPA, the average family can waste 180 gallons per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually from household leaks;...
Snowpack and the Gallatin River
We care about snow for a lot of reasons. We need it to enjoy all of our winter sports; skiing, snowboarding, Nordic adventures, and even a good snowshoe. Nothing says cozy like curling up next to a fireplace on a cold, snowy evening, and Lone Mountain is arguably the...
Big Sky’s FOG Problem
As if we needed another reason to stop eating bacon cheeseburgers, it turns out that greasy foods are clogging more than just our arteries. According to the Big Sky Water and Sewer District, fats, oils and greases, or FOGs, are also clogging Big Sky’s sewer system,...
Big Sky Fourth Grade Students Explore Environmental Change
“If the water is not clear, nobody will want to play, raft, or fish the river…If nobody wants to play in the river, the economy will go down…because a lot of our money comes from sports in the river,” a fourth-grade student stated during a mock engineering summit at Ophir Elementary School. The Solutions Matter Summit was the culmination of a six-week unit of inquiry by the fourth-grade class exploring local and global environmental change.
A Tale of Two Winters
In March, we predicted an early runoff, and below average peak flows, but now we’re not sure what to expect. What do you think peak flow in the Gallatin will be in 2017? When will the Gallatin peak? We’ll announce the best guess on our Facebook page.