County street sweep replaces street wash

The new storm water system drove organizers of Bigfork’s annual street washing to replace the 30-40 year tradition with county street sweepers.

The Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork and the Bigfork Stormwater Advisory Committee have agreed that the best way to minimize harm on the $1.3 million system from the annual street washing is to do away with it altogether.

Data collected from 2010 and 2011 shows the street cleaning has a large affect on the amount of sediments, pollutants and the flow rate of water dumped into the storm water system.

“Street washing events contribute significantly more nutrients and pollutants than natural rain or snow melt events,” said Mike Koopal of the Whitefish Lake Institute, who put together the sampling and analysis plan for the storm water project. “When the street washing occurs, high pressure wash frees the fine sediment that is entrained in the irregularities of the pavement and flushes it into the storm water system.”

There was also the worry that it would damage or clog the new systems. If the street washing were to take place, members of BSAC said the system would have to be covered. This would cause flooding in some areas, which is one of the reasons the system was installed in the first place.

CFBB asked the county to come in and sweep the streets a couple of times before Bigfork’s summer season. President Paul Mutascio assures Bigfork businesses that the “streets will be shining” in time for the tourists and if need be, CFBB will contract a private street sweeper to come touch-up downtown Bigfork as needed.

OTHER BSAC NEWS

After a meeting with county executive Mike Pence, BSAC prepares for another round of battle with Rural Special Improvement District tax surveys, starting first with the gathering of numbers for public information meetings.

BSAC Vice Chairman Harry Hyatt said the first round of surveys was a way to check-in with Bigfork community members to see whether or not they would be willing to put any money into the remainder of the storm water project.

“We just wanted to get a feeling for how people would feel about giving some money out,” Hyatt said.

Thus far the project has been paid for with money from grants and the county.

The last phase of the storm water project consists of a system that would collect water on the north and south ends of Bridge Street. The last estimate given by Brett Walcheck of 48 North Engineering at the January BSAC meeting was around $1.3 million.

Pence informed BSAC members that they would need to put out another round of surveys that includes the actual cost of things before the county would take survey results into the consideration for approving an RSID.

Hyatt wants to be sure BSAC has final estimate costs for the project, the bond, and maintenance of the system, as well as post-system water analysis samples before any dates are set for public information meetings. While all BSAC meetings are open to the public, the information meetings would be geared specifically to the RSID and the effectiveness of the storm water system that’s already been installed.

“That will be scheduled as soon as we have our numbers,” Hyatt said.

The next BSAC meeting will take place 12 p.m. March 28 at Bethany Lutheran Church.