By Tom Roeder, The Chronicle, 8/20/98
ONALASKA - No new customers will be allowed to connect with Onalaska's sewer system until problems are addressed according to the state agency in charge of monitoring such systems.
Wednesday, the Washington Department of Ecology ordered a moratorium on hookups to the Lewis County Water District 2 system that serves 200 customers.
"During the summer months, the sewage system is typically in compliance," said Ecology compliance specialist Kathleen Emmett. "But during the winter, with its heavy rainfall and high river levels, the system is overloaded.
The moratorium is in place while water district officials mull major improvements to the troubled system. June 30, the three water district commissioners turned down a $2.3 million loan package from the state to build a new sewage treatment plant and improve pipes.
"We would have to increase the rates by an incredible amount" Commissioner Stan Blair said. "The average $37 water and sewer bill would have gone up by $40."
The moratorium means the sewer utility can't add new customers, and essentially bans growth for the core of Onalaska. New structures built there wouldn't have a way to flush toilets, according to the order.
Blair contends that most of the year, the current system installed in 1976, works well. The waste is pumped to a sewage treatment plant on the community's western edge, where it is with oxygen and chlorine.
"At this time of year, it works," he said.
But state officials say during the winter, the plant dumps raw sewage. Emmett said when Onalaska's sewage treatment center has been deluged by storm runoff, nearly raw sewage is dumped into the adjacent Newaukum River.
The problem is decaying pipes let the excess water leak into the system.
"They have a very old collection system that is letting in rainwater, and more waste is coming in" Emmett said. "The system was designed for certain amount."
She said when rainwater and flood runoff rush through the system, the oval ditch of sewage fills quickly, forcing solids through a separator.
A bleach solution that hopefully disinfects the small flow of waste through the facility isn't enough to treat the 180,000-gallon torrent.
Blair said commissioners have been working on fixing the sewage system for more than 10 years. Recent plant improvements include upgrading its laboratory to meet state requirements, along with wiring improvements.
"The state has been happy with us," Blair said. "If you could have seen the treatment plant six years ago, there has been so much improvement."
The moratorium is not the most severe punishment the state can bring to bear on the sewer utility.
Emmett said the next logical step if the moratorium is ignored is to mandate that when sewer customers move, their homes are cut off from the system.
"If the system continues to deteriorate, we might have to do that" she said. "But the water district is working with us, and they are making improvements.
Blair said he hopes the state can come up with a better, cheaper solution that won't lead to massive rate hikes for his customers.
He said commissioners hope state and federal grants can be used to finance repairs.
Emmett said the moratorium will be in place until the system is fixed.