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BILLINGS -- Out of the 18 pharmaceutical chemicals identified from the analysis of Yellowstone Club wastewater that spilled into tributaries of the Gallatin River on March 3, none pose any threat to human health, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has reported.

About 35 million gallons of effluent drained from the Big Sky-area storage pond over the course of four days. The Yellowstone Club advertises itself as a “13,600-acre private residential area” that includes an 18-hole golf course and ski area.

The drugs detected ranged from antidepressants and acetaminophen to anti-fungicides and antibiotics. Although Montana has no pharmaceutical water quality standards, it used criteria from Minnesota to see if any of the drug levels exceeded human health standards.

“Human health effects from any individual chemical tested in this study are unlikely,” DEQ said in an April 25 report.

“However, there is much uncertainty regarding impacts to aquatic life via low-concentration pharmaceuticals, or combinations of pharmaceuticals, so DEQ’s ability to assess this impact is limited,” the report goes on to state.

Sediment

An earlier report issued by DEQ had noted the spill created an “acute exceedance of Montana’s ammonia standards” on Second Yellow Mule Creek on March 5. “Further downstream, ammonia concentrations on March 5 were sequentially lower with increasing distance and dilution; there was no ammonia detected in the mainstem Gallatin River.”

Of greater concern to DEQ now is the large amount of dirt dumped into Second Yellow Mule Creek, a small tributary to the South Fork West Fork Gallatin River, and that eventually ended up in the main Gallatin River.

When the wastewater pond’s 30-inch casement pipe failed, water drained from the pond at such a great force that it gouged a 10- to 12-foot deep trough into the steep hillside below the pond, said Tom Livers, director of the DEQ who testified before the Environmental Quality Council on Wednesday in Helena.

“Remediation and restoration of that area is a high priority,” Livers said.

The heavy sediment load killed five fish in the Second Yellow Mule Creek, effectively suffocating them, according to Christian Schmidt, Water Quality Division administrator for DEQ. The rush of sediment raised the turbidity in the Gallatin River from March 5 to 12.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will monitor brown trout spawning beds in the Gallatin River this fall to see if the sediment has damaged those fine gravels, Livers said, adding that little could be done to remove the soil.

“I’m not trivializing this, but it was like a big runoff,” he added.

Political heat

Livers took criticism from Bozeman Rep. Kerry White over not hosting a meeting in Belgrade following the spill to provide information to the public about what had happened and what the DEQ was doing to address the spill.

“There was a lot of concern all down the canyon,” White said.

Livers apologized, saying DEQ staff thought at the time that a meeting would be “counter productive” since the agency did not have enough information to pass on at the time, but should have held a meeting anyway.

“It was never our intent to blow them off,” Livers said.

DEQ was also questioned about how such an accident could occur since the agency had signed off on the engineering plan. According to Schmidt, ice in the pond rose as the pond’s water level climbed. It was the rising ice that tore off a stand pipe causing the leak.

Livers said the DEQ had approved a plan showing a 1-foot tall stand pipe, but the construction engineer had raised that pipe to 6 feet tall.

“We were not aware of that,” he said. “That’s part of what contributed to the spill.”

Other spills

Livers said the DEQ had no authority to inspect the pond once it had reviewed the plans, and there are many other wastewater ponds across the state that it also has no authority over. Yet he said concerns about a similar spill happening at other storage ponds in Montana are low, since the Big Sky-area wastewater treatment facility was built in a region much different because of the high elevation — above 8,000 feet. A similar spill on the prairie would not be as damaging, Livers said.

No fines have yet been levied on the Yellowstone Club for the spill, and some members of the EQC suggested that the fine ought to be minimal since the discharge was accidental.