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Sewer District Approves Plan to Resolve Moratorium
Sandpoint, ID (November 14, 2007) - The Southside Water and Sewer District Board of Directors is pleased to announce they have finalized a plan to resolve the sewer moratorium that has been in place since April 2004. Based on 3 years of research exploring a variety of alternatives, and an opinion poll of District constituents in October 2007, the Board has voted to move forward with a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system to handle the increased treatment requirements and discharge a very high quality effluent into the Pend Oreille River. The current land application of the wastewater will continue with the existing system to the maximum allowable capacity.
The membrane filtration process produces an effluent that exceeds any anticipated EPA and IDEQ discharge requirements. The State of Idaho recently approved the use of wastewater from these systems to irrigate lawns, parks, golf courses thus potentially providing future sources of revenue.
The estimated cost is $3.9 million and will increase the district’s capacity from 350 to 650 equivalent residential units (ERU). While it is more costly than other alternatives, it is more environmentally friendly and better than any current discharge into the Pend Oreille River basin.
“This decision was reached with a great deal of deliberation and debate. We explored many alternatives over the past 3 years,” explained Gary Westcott, chairman of the SW&SD Board of Directors, “The MBR system is our best solution as it best satisfies a set of criteria that we needed to consider for each alternative; capital cost for construction, annual operation and maintenance costs, ease of operation, ease of system expansion to accommodate flows beyond the current expectations for the District and ability to comply with anticipated regulations and public acceptance.”
In 2004, The Southside Sewer & Water District was forced to institute a building moratorium when the current land application system (and winter lagoon storage) reached capacity servicing 350 residential units. An additional 230 sewer hook-ups could not be serviced, and an additional 240 units are estimated to be built in the next 20 years.
At the time that Southside’s system was designed, it was determined that a 28-acre parcel would be more than adequate to meet the current and projected wastewater discharges for 400 residential units. However, in 2000 the Idaho Department of Environment Quality issued a permit that limited the land application. This limit was reached in 2004, far earlier than anticipated.
It was at this time that J-U-B Engineers had completed a two-year study for the District, which resulted in a Wastewater Facility Plan for the next twenty years and identified a number of alternatives for disposing of the excess wastewater.
The District pursued the alternative for utilizing a “hybrid” system with direct river discharge during winter months and slow-rate land application during the irrigation season because it would make the best use of the existing treatment facilities. However, in March 2005, the EPA would not act on the application due to public opposition and requested the District demonstrate that other options had been fully considered.
The transfer of raw sewage to the City of Sandpoint via an underwater force main to the City’s wastewater treatment plant was proposed as a viable solution however Sandpoint City Council’s Public Works Committee declined this proposal in September 2006 before it went to the full City Council.
A popular alternative to expand the existing slow rate land application used by the District was dropped after an extensive search was conducted to acquire more land. The Board looked at three possible sites and only one would meet the District’s and the IDEQ requirements for a 20-year period. The property owner was uncooperative and the Board chose not to pursue condemnation and the exercise of eminent domain as a practical alternative, because it is an expensive, slow and entangled process.
Southside supports the regionalization of the sewer district. In June 2005, they became a cooperating member of the Citizens’ Advisory Council. However, it is recognized that regionalization is probably at least 10 years away and this does not meet with the District’s timeline.
Now that a plan has been reached, the District Board will submit a revised application to the USEPA once the final facility plan and environmental information document have been completed.
Additionally, The Board has authorized a rate study to provide guidance on the most appropriate funding mechanisms that are fair and equitable to both current and all future users. Further information regarding the Southside Sewer and Water District’s decision can be found at www.southsidewaterandsewer.org.
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