The Pennington County Commission is tackling a problem that has been developing for years - ground water contamination.

In response to studies showing elevated levels of contaminants in eastern foothill water supplies, the commissioners have developed a proposed ordinance regulating septic systems in the county.

This ordinance is long overdue. Water is too precious a commodity to not protect it with any and all tools available.

While there are those who dispute the primary source of the pollution - human or animal - it's a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

As the hills population continues to grow, regulating their impact on the hills and the people downstream is imperative.

It's a serious, ongoing problem. In 1998, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources declared the creek above Sheridan Lake, Spring Creek, unsuitable for "immersion" due to fecal pollution. In April, just a month ago, the DENR recommended the county reduce pollution in Spring Creek.

This issue hasn't been off the commissioner's radar. Last year they created a water-quality director to protect surface and groundwater contamination and, from that position, the draft septic ordinance has been in development.

The DENR dictate in April may have injected a sense of urgency into the commission work already under way; and, that's a good thing.

The county commissioners have formed a committee of county residents to recommend revisions to the proposed ordinance after the proposal came under fire at a public meeting.

The committee can tweak the ordinance but it won't have the power to put the kibosh on it all together. Again, that's a good thing.

As every resident of Rapid City knows, clean, safe water comes at a price and, generally, a price people are willing to pay.

County residents will incur some costs under the proposed ordinance but, as it's written, those costs hardly seem excessive or unbearable.

The ultimate outcome of the county's, and committee's work, has to be an ordinance that addresses the issue at hand today and any issue that could arise well into the future. It sounds like they're going to get there.

This isn't likely the end of the commissions work to protect ground and surface water. The DENR has found that sources of pollutants in county water are (as one would expect) urban and agricultural runoff, livestock in streams as well as the failing septic systems.

The committee should report back to the commissioners by July. We're confident they'll have a strict, and fair, ordinance in hand to protect the precious hills' water supplies flowing through Pennington County.