By David Wilkins, Vidette Reporter, 8/30/98
Parametrix Co. engineers making a survey of McCleary's ailing wastewater treatment System were surprised to discover two large connections between the Simpson Door plant and the main city sewer line that runs along Summit Road.
The connections are not shown on McCleary sewer maps, and the city has been having chronic problems with excess water at their overloaded sewage treatment plant.
City records show that Simpson originally got permission from the city to pump the water into the sewer in 1987. The original wastewater discharge permit called for a total daily discharge from the plant of around 1,500 gallons, from the "Slicing Operation Hot Vat."
The most conservative estimate of the current output is an average of 14,000 gallons per day, with a more realistic figure being closer to 28,000.
"There's no meter on it, so I can't say exactly," said Parametrix engineer John Burk. "But we estimate that on a given day those two connections account for between 5 and 15 percent of the total flow for the entire city."
Parametrix engineers delivered their "Sanitary Sewer Inflow and Infiltration (I & I) Report" to the McCleary City Council on Wednesday, July 22. The report includes a chart that shows that McCleary has had problems with excess water flow in their system for nearly 20 years, and that the problem is worst in months when it rains heavily.
Then, in 1994, the excess flow increased, all at once, nearly 20 percent. Parametrix engineers, preparing the survey in 1997, were at a loss to explain why. Then they sent a video camera down the main sewer line and found the Simpson connections.
The "Executive Summary" section of the report states "It is obvious from our flow monitoring and video inspection that the Door Plant contributes a significant flow to the sanitary sewer."
Currently the Door Plant pays for only one Equivalent Residential Unit, but is actually discharging many times that amount."
City records show that Simpson has two sewer accounts with the city. One covers the office building, and averages about $18.50 a month, the same as a single-family home. The other covers the rest of the plant and averages slightly over $400 a month.
"If we're talking about the slicing vat water, we made an agreement with Simpson about that sometime in the early '90s," said former McCleary Public Works Director Chris Brown. "It came to my attention that the slicing vat water was being dumped directly into Wildcat Creek, and because of the small size of the creek and the high temperature of the water, it was causing overflow problems."
"It used to be common practice for industries to just pump that water out into the nearest river," said Simpson Public Works Administrator Patti Case. "Obviously that's not acceptable any more."
In a letter to the city dated July 21, 1987, Department of Ecology Chief Inspector Darrel L. Anderson expressed some concern over the already overloaded McCleary sewer system.
"I am concerned about the high flows that occur during the winter at the McCleary Sewage Treatment Plant," wrote Anderson. "However ... the discharges from Simpson should be at a low enough rate as not to cause a problem. I recommend the city require Simpson to monitor these flows to verify the discharge rate."
The wastewater discharge permit issued by the city and signed by then-Mayor Richard Vatne on December 15, 1987, states that "daily records of wastewater discharged to the city's sanitary sewer system shall be maintained by Simpson Timber and shall be provided to the city's Utility Supervisor monthly on the last day of the month."
"I've been here three years," said Shay, "and I've never seen a single report. Maybe we have to go over and ask for them."
The permit also calls for wastewater to be discharged into the sewer system during "offpeak" hours between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The connections do not appear on any of the city's sewer maps, according to Brown, because the maps were completed during the last major renovation project in the early '80s, and the connections were made some time after that.
Shay said that the temperature of the coolant water was measured at 84 degrees, which would put it well under the 150 degrees, specified as illegal by a city ordnance.
"After talking to the city crew, it turns out that it was a joint project between Simpson and the city," said Shay. 'I wasn't here when it was done, so I can't really say."
"Our maintenance crew says that the city of McCleary put in the connections," said Case.
"I don't know, maybe they came to the previous city engineer, and he just said it was OK," said Shay.
As to the lack of a meter on the lines, "ordinarily, sewer connections aren't metered," said Brown. "Water connections, yes, but not sewer."
Case added that sewer charges are usually based on water usage, and the Simpson plant has its own water supply.
City officials, however, said that while Simpson uses a separate reservoir, the water supply and system belong to the city.
"Simpson is being a good neighbor," said McCleary Mayor John Adams. "They've already agreed to work with us on this."
Case said that Simpson is addressing the problem as a high priority. "Our environmental and engineering guy is running around like a chicken with his head cut off, working on this right now," she said. "Brian (Shay) came to us about 6 months ago, and we've been working on some re-use alternatives for that (coolant) water ever since '
"Simpson is aware of the problem," adds Shay. "and they're already looking into alternatives."
"Our recommendation is to get a meter on it immediately, and do some sampling if necessary," said Burk. "Then we give them a timetable to find an alternative and disconnect it-"
The Simpson plant is far from being McCleary's only sewer problem. Many home and building owners in the city have leaky or non-code connections to the sewer system.
"We've found people who knocked holes in the sewer under their house in order to drain off excess water," said Burk. "Other people have downspouts feeding off their rooftops directly into the sewer. On a rainy day, one large roof adds as much flow to the system as 35 average homes."
The city has a lot of work to do as well. Forty-five manholes around the city are listed in the report as needing repairs, at a total estimated cost of $33,300. Other needed repairs to city property total $17,525, including $15,000 to control drainage problems around the Summit Park lift station.
"This has to be a community effort," said Burk. "Brian (Shay) and I are going to talk to Simpson about their options. We can bring the city back into compliance, but everyone has to pitch in. People have to realize that you can't just knock a hole in the sewer."