New Building Stopped At Schweitzer Ski Resort’s Sewage System Has Reached Its Capacity; Officials Worry About Possible Failure, Pollution

Bonner County has halted new construction at Schweitzer Mountain Resort after environmental officials said the ski hill’s sewer system is maxed out.

“Until we see a plan from Schweitzer, we agreed to put a hold on any more expansion up there,” said Bonner County Commissioner Dale VanStone.

Health officials worry the system could fail if it’s overloaded and pollute the city of Sandpoint’s watershed or nearby creeks.

“Sewage is a big concern up there and even more so now because of the growth,” said Ed Braun of Panhandle Health District.

The state Division of Environmental Quality requested the county not process any new construction applications or issue building permits on the mountain for at least a month.

Schweitzer expects to have a proposal to expand the existing system by then.

“This isn’t a moratorium. It’s more of a postponement until we can see Schweitzer’s master plan,” said Gary Gaffney of DEQ. “Hopefully no one will be put out by the delay.”

During the past five years, Schweitzer Mountain has turned into a little city. An 80-room hotel and hundreds of condominiums and vacation homes have sprouted on the hillside.

That growth has put pressure on the existing sewer system, which now serves about 550 homes and condominiums. The system is supposed to treat 14.3 million gallons of sewage a year, but last year 20 million gallons flowed through it.

“The system handled it fairly well, but the volume has given us some concerns,” Gaffney said.

If the system is taxed beyond its capacity, it could overflow and send raw sewage down the mountain.

“If the resort wants more connections, it’s going to have to expand the system,” Gaffney said.

Schweitzer Vice President Tim Hinderman said the higher flows last year were caused, in part, by water that infiltrated the system.

Construction projects last year left some sewer manhole covers open. Melting snow and rain leaked into the sewers and drastically increased the amount of water to be treated.

“We feel that problem has been corrected,” Hinderman said.

“We could argue for months about whether we are truly at capacity or not,” Hinderman said. “That is not what we want. We feel we are near capacity and our intent is to expand so we don’t reach it, but stay ahead of the growth curve.”

Hinderman said it was the resort’s idea to draft a five-year master plan instead of having to ask for new sewer connections each year from DEQ.

Health officials want Schweitzer to get rid of its sewage drainfields. The resort has a 5-million-gallon holding lagoon and two drainfields where wastewater is pumped. The drainfields were overloaded and failed a few years ago, spilling sewage onto the ground, said Braun.

The Health District wants Schweitzer to phase out the drainfields in the next five years and replace them with lagoons, where wastewater is stored, treated and later sprayed on the ground.

“But if the drainfields fail again we will likely request they be phased out immediately,” Braun said.

“We are confident we can sit down with the county and DEQ and present an acceptable plan,” Hinderman said. “We think we will have approval long before the construction season begins, hopefully by next month.”

, DataTimes