County asks to move back sewer compliance schedule

Citing a need for more state guidance, additional permitting hurdles and potential future costs, the Stillwater County Commissioners will ask the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to delay its compliance schedule for improvements to the Absarokee sewer treatment plant by two years.
The treatment plant, which discharges into a ditch that flows into Rosebud Creek, was cited by DEQ for exceeding effluent limits 33 times from January 2007 through October 2012, including for E.coli and biological oxygen demand.
DEQ issued an administrative order on consent in 2013, a legal document that ordered the county to comply with its wastewater discharge permit by the end of 2018. Failure to comply could result in a $10,000 per day fine up to $100,000.
Under the terms of the order, plans and specifications for the improvement project were due by Jan. 31, 2018; construction was to be completed by Sept. 30, 2018; and the county was to be in compliance with its discharge permit by Dec. 31, 2018.
But in a letter to the DEQ approved by the commissioners at their April 26 agenda meeting, the commissioners will ask DEQ to move the deadlines back by two years – plans and specifications would be due by Jan. 31, 2020; construction completion by Sept. 30, 2020; and county compliance by Dec. 31, 2020.
The letter was drafted by Craig Pozega, the municipal business unit manager at Great West Engineering. The firm completed a preliminary engineering report for the project in time to meet the compliance deadline.
The commissioners also will ask DEQ to approve an option in the Absarokee plant’s Montana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (MPDES) permit to allow discharging of treated wastewater into either the ditch that runs to Rosebud Creek or directly into Rosebud Creek.
Possible rule changes in the future could benefit the county if it discharges directly into Rosebud Creek, but the county will need approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which could take time, the letter states.
The commissioners also want DEQ to take note of its plans to phase-in the upgrade project, stating in the letter that “it will be important for the MPDES permit to contain less stringent interim limits that can be met with existing treatment until all improvements can be constructed.”
Citing discussion at a March 30 meeting in Helena between the county, the engineers and DEQ, the commissioners suggest in the letter that the best way to handle these changes is through the administrative order on consent.
“Due to the recent encouragement of DEQ to change point of discharge and phase the wastewater improvements, the county will not be able to come into compliance with permit requirements for secondary standards as currently scheduled in the AOC,” the letter states.
The commissioners requested “clear guidance” from the DEQ on several issues relating to the administrative order and the new discharge permit. They are also concerned about being cost-effective, especially in light of uncertainty about possible changes in discharge permitting in the future.
“The county does not want to spend significant amounts of money to try and meet only secondary treatment permit limits now, only to find out that new or more stringent limits will be imposed in five years during the next permit cycle,” the letter states.
Commissioner Gerald Dell described several meetings with DEQ staff that he and Great West Engineers Pozega and Dave Aune attended in Helena. In the earlier meetings, with seven to nine DEQ staff present, the county pressed DEQ for details on any new requirements but were told the requirements would be included in a new permit when it was completed.
But that would be after the preliminary engineering report was done, Dell said. In the most recent meeting, March 30, only three DEQ staff were present, and they were higher level officials, Dell said.
“Finally our issues were clarified,” he said.
Commissioner Maureen Davey recounted difficulties in the past when dealing with the state agency.
“DEQ tells us what to do and we do it,” she said. “It’s been very difficult – they change their mind, new people come in.”
Dell noted positive signs in the March 30 meeting.
“They didn’t want the community to complete any major improvements or spend lots of money until the permit requirements are known,” he said.