BOZEMAN, Mont. — Have you ever wondered where grease from a food truck ends up, or where wastewater from an RV goes? In Bozeman, officials say dumping has become enough of a problem that the city recently added new dump stations to address it.
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“Everything was clean, easy to use, it was well worth it,” Steve Rumohr said.
Rumohr lives in the Hebgen Lake area and travels to Bozeman about once a month with his wife in their Airstream trailer.
When the couple visits Bozeman, they park at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. However, the side they stay on does not have a sewage hookup, so they usually wait until they return home to empty their wastewater tanks.
“The one we have at the cabin is very difficult to get to,” Rumohr said. “It’s on a sloped lot, so it’s just not fun to get in there.”
That changed when Rumohr arrived in Bozeman for his monthly visit and discovered the city’s new RV dump station.
“We were happy to use it,” Rumohr said. “It was very convenient.”
The addition is something Gallatin County Fairgrounds Director Caitlin Quisenberry said was needed.
“We do need more dump stations for our RVs,” Quisenberry said. “We have about 44 RV spaces here, and only about half of them have RV dumps.”
The RV dump station is not the only new addition at the site. A new food truck grease dump station has also been installed.
On Friday morning, organizers from the city of Bozeman and the Gallatin City-County Health Department discussed the need for the project.
“We initially started talking with the city about needing a grease interceptor because lots of the RV dumps at gas stations, which the mobile food trucks use, don’t have any grease interception,” said Britney Krahn with the Gallatin City-County Health Department.
Krahn said grease can create serious problems in sewer systems.
“Grease actually can clog sewer lines,” Krahn said. “The grease combines with other things you might find in regular sewage and completely blocks a line.”
To address the issue, the city built the first grease interceptor station in Gallatin County. The station opened last week alongside the new RV dump site at a cost of $180,000.
Although Rumohr said he likely will not use the grease station himself, he is still glad it was installed.
“It’s a very good idea,” Rumohr said. “The more things you can do environmentally correct, the better off you are as far as your future.”
Both stations cost $10 per use.
