For communities economically reliant on industries that require a great deal of water, ideas previously considered unconventional are gaining traction to protect and sustain strained water resources. For example, the high demand for man-made snow at ski resorts in the western U.S. has made the demand for sustainable solutions paramount due to changing temperature and precipitation patterns. After years of consideration and planning, this year marks the inauguration of snowmaking from reclaimed water at Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, the first ski resort to do so in the state.

In 1997, Big Sky began exploring the idea of reclaimed water use for snowmaking. A pilot project launched in 2011 to study the environmental impacts on 23 resources found that the impact to those resources would be “insignificant or not present,” and in 2021, the Yellowstone Club obtained the first permit in Montana to recycle wastewater for snowmaking.[1]

The snowmaking program will bolster water supplies, providing an estimated 25-million-gallon net gain to the watershed that could extend “the cold-water flow into the Gallatin by as many as 19 days,” while providing an additional buffer to the watershed from increased nutrients.[2]

Although the success of the project paves the way for similar operations at other area ski resorts, the continued health of the Gallatin River is a priority for the region, and as such the permit stipulates that the Yellowstone Club monitor the impact of melting snow on local tributaries.

[1] Butler, Bella, and Gabrielle Gasser. “Yellowstone Club Advances Wastewater Snowmaking Project.” Explore Big Sky | Your Local Source for News, Culture & Events, 29 Sept. 2021, www.explorebigsky.com/yellowstone-club-advances-wastewater-snowmaking-project/38820.

[2] Hayes, Marne. “Every Drop Counts: Reclaimed Water Makes Its Debut in the Early Season of Snowmaking .” Explore Big Sky | Your Local Source for News, Culture & Events, 13 Dec. 2023, www.explorebigsky.com/every-drop-counts-reclaimed-water-makes-its-debut-in-the-early-season-of-snowmaking/52337.