Last month, the Yellowstone Club introduced its members on one of its slopes to snow sourced mostly from Big Sky with a smaller portion from its properties.
The private ski and golf community is known as an exclusive destination for the rich and famous and, according to regulators, it's the first ski area in the state to turn wastewater into snow.
Rich Chandler with the Yellowstone Club said the repurposed wastewater will be used in place of groundwater.
“The water treatment facilities treat this water that comes in from toilets and showers and sinks and everything else to a standard that, by the end of the product, it looks very similar - almost identical - to tap water,” he said.
During the state process that approved a permit for waste discharge into waterways, some environmental groups like Trout Unlimited wrote in favor, citing possible benefits like increased water flow to irrigators downstream.
Others voiced concern over the impact of development on the water quality of the Gallatin River and its tributaries.
