River Wire Blog

Bloggers Note:

The water found at the local businesses is safe and is tested regularly.  Homeowners do not have to have their water tested, but they should.   Read the article below and scratch your head while you're doing it. 

To be clear, the businesses in Craig undergo monthly or quarterly water sample testing.  Food service establishments are required to submit water samples on a monthly basis.  Lodging operations are required to test quarterly.  Here's a list:

Izaak's Restaurant - Monthly
Craig Bar - Monthly
Trout Shop - Monthly
Trout Shop Lodge/Cafe -Monthly
Cross Currents - Quarterly
Craig Trout Camp - Quarterly

The Trout Shop has a state-of-the art water purification system and septic system.  The system is bullet proof and was approved by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.  The Craig Bar has a water chlorination system that was approved by DEQ as well.  Izaak's Restarurant has a public water system that was approved of by DEQ.  Craig Trout Camp, Cross Currents, and The Trout Shop Lodge/Cafe do not reach the threshold of DEQ scrutiny and are regulated by Lewis and Clark County which also requires water sample testing. 

Only a handful of local residents are stonewalling the implementation of a new city sewage treatement system.  If only 4 of the 40+ residents of Craig filled out an anonymous income survey, significant federal grant money could be had to get the process started.  All other residents have filled out the survey so a vast majority of the residents do care about their health. Why 4 people are willing to drink poop in their water is simply amazing.  Maybe they've drank too much already.  If not poop, what are they drinking?  Sorry, but this is just plain......................

End of Blogger's Note

 

Beginning of Lewis and Clark County Health Department Letter:

Chris Goodman
Craig Water & Sewer Board President

2720 Craig River Road

Craig, MT 59648

 

Dear Mr. Goodman:

 

The Lewis and Clark City-County Board of Health (Board) strongly support your efforts to obtain $750,000 in federal appropriations for the New Craig Central Wastewater System.

 

The Board is responsible for regulation the treatment and disposal of wastewater within Lewis and Clark County for the purpose of controlling environmental pollution and protecting public health. To this end, the Board adopted county on-site wastewater treatment regulations in 1973. The regulations govern the disposal of wastewater and are intended to address homes built at low densities outside towns and small communities. The regulations have been continually updated since 1973 and reflect best available technology for individual wastewater treatment.

 

The town of Craig has relied on individual treatment systems since its inception, but as our understanding of sewage treatment mechanisms has improved, the Board has come to understand that small lot sizes, denser development, sand and gravel soils, and proximity to waters like the Missouri River and shallow groundwater make Craig a poor choice for individual systems.

 

Many lots in Craig do not provide adequate separation between septic drain fields and drinking water wells or surface water. This reduced separation can allow drainfield effluent to enter groundwater or surface water before it is adequately treated, and can result in degradation of water quality and the potential spread of communicable illness from poorly treated sewage. 

 

Two of the most important keys to good treatment of sewage is distance and time, and that is something that cannot be achieved in the town of Craig. The town of Craig is built on a sand and gravel aquifer which contains shallow groundwater. Once sewage effluent enters the ground, it travels quickly through the sand and gravel aquifer to nearby wells or the Missouri River. Little or no treatment occurs, resulting in the rapid movement of pollutants like nutrients, bacteria and viruses in sewage. These potentially pathogenic pollutants may ultimately appear in drinking water wells or the Missouri River.  

 

As the aging systems in Craig begin to fail, residents must apply to the Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department for permits to construct replacement systems. Many of these systems can not meet current state and local setbacks to wells and surface water. Residents must appear before the Board to seek a variance to these public health standards. The Board must consider variance requests that would allow people to continue living in their homes, but which may present a health risk to neighbors by increasing the likelihood of contamination of the neighbor’s drinking water or the Missouri River. The Board has been denying these requests and asking residents to pursue the more reliable, long-term alternative - construction of a community wastewater treatment system.

The Board believes that a community treatment system in Craig will provide a higher level of treatment of sewage, resulting in protection of both the groundwater used for Craig’s domestic drinking water supply and the Missouri River, one of Montana’s premier recreational waterways. Protection of water quality will in turn protect public health of residents and visitors to this beautiful Montana town.

 

On behalf of the Lewis and Clark City-County Board of Health, I affirm our strong support of this project.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Melanie Reynolds,

Health Officer