City of Effie Wastewater Update

As most of you already know the city council has been working on providing our city with a public wastewater treatment system. This has been a very long process and many of you have questions as to where we are at?, what is it going to cost?, when is it going to happen?, etc… The purpose of this update is to hopefully answer some of those questions and to also generate more questions that you may bring up to the city council so we can ask the appropriate people to get those answers. First, we will give a little history of the project. The city council has been working on developing a public wastewater treatment system for approximately the last four years. As many of you know, most (over 80%) of the current septic systems in Effie fail to meet the county, state, or Federal environmental standards. Most of the systems are open-ended systems that run off into either Borrowman Brook or into neighboring wetlands. The systems that are in a concentrated area have been tested and create levels of fecal coli that are up to 10 times the legal limit for public safety. Many of the resident’s properties are also not large enough to place a new septic system. The city has also had pressure from the State of Minnesota Department of Health to fix this problem. So, in short, this is a project we feel is necessary for the safety of our citizens and may encourage growth in our community as well. On a positive note, we feel that we are now at a point where this wastewater system could very well be a reality. We cannot give an exact date or an exact cost or an exact timeline of events, however, we hope that the following information will help answer some of your questions.

The system engineered will be a gravity fed aerobic septic system. What does this mean? Basically, there will be a four inch drain pipe leaving your home, cabin, or business. It will drain to an 8 inch main that will flow towards the actual treatment site. All pipes will most likely be made of PVC. There will be a few pumping stations throughout the town that will help get the effluent out to the treatment site. . We are told that all flow pipes will be well below the frost line (6 to 8 ft. deep). This system will not have treatment ponds. If you want detailed information on how the actual treatment system works, the city’s wastewater committee will provide that upon request.

Where will the system be located? The city is in the process of purchasing 5 acres of Boise Land, located on the North West corner of Boise’s access road. More detailed land information can be requested from the Wastewater Committee.

What will happen to my current system? The engineer’s state that once hooked up to the main, your current tank will either be removed or filled with sand. You will only have a flow pipe leaving your home or business flowing to a main flow pipe.

Will I have to pay to get hooked up? This we do not know as of yet. The funding resources state that they will not pay for a hook up to the main. We are exploring the idea that the city maintains ownership of the actual flow pipe from the current resident or business to the main with a utility maintenance easement signed by the owners. Any future hookups after construction would be the responsibility of the owner. This issue has been only discussed and will need to be researched more.

When is this going to happen? Well…, we could very possibly get funding in the next couple of months. This is not a for sure, but we are very high on the project priority list, due to the large number of failing systems. If we get the necessary funding, we still have a long way to go. We are hoping that the remaining part of this year would be in preparation for construction in the spring or summer of 2006. Preparation involves working with the engineers, lawyer, funding resources, etc…on surveying, drawing up easements, securing funds, setting up an operation and maintenance schedule, billing process, etc… What is it going to cost me? The project will cost approximately 1.8 million dollars to construct. The main funding resource is the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA will provide both loans and grants. We have a matching grant from Wastewater Infrastructure. We are also applying for a DEED grant, which will offset any loan amounts from USDA. The billing is set by the USDA on loan payback and operation and maintenance. This is a standard minimum bill set by a percentage of the city’s median household income. Each individual resident’s bill will probably range from an estimated $45.00 to $60.00 a month. The wastewater committee will be working on getting more exact numbers this upcoming year. Who is going to maintain this system? The system designed is a relatively basic system. We have previously discussed this and are working on contracting with an outside contractor or with the City of Bigfork to inspect and maintain the system. The cost is worked into the operation and maintenance budget, which is paid for by your monthly sewer bill. Do I have to hookup? Yes. This project is being developed because we are currently not meeting safety standards set for many years by our larger government entities. We as a city are obligated to comply.