County Plans To Shut Down Septic Dump

Kootenai County commissioners plan to shut down a controversial 80-acre dump site near Rathdrum in 60 days.

By then, they hope to have an alternative means of disposing of waste collected in the region’s septic tanks.

Commissioners unanimously agreed that a dump site near Round Mountain was too threatening to neighbors’ water supplies to remain in use. The site has remained open for years because nobody could find another place to put septic waste.

But Commissioner Ron Rankin said Wednesday he was negotiating with a waste hauler who might be willing to transport residents’ waste to dump sites outside Kootenai County.

And Commissioner Dick Panabaker is talking to a Hayden-area sewer board about the possibility of hauling the waste to the prairie, where it could be used to irrigate fields.

Commissioners also are working on an ordinance to establish penalties for anyone caught dumping illegally.

Commissioner Dick Compton said health officials equate closing the dump to locking the door to the county’s only outhouse.

“We’re not letting this go,” Rankin said. “This is our No. 1 priority.”

, DataTimes