Twin Lakes Development Suffers Setback Examiner Gets No Assurance That Proposed Septic System Won’t Pollute Drinking Wells

Homeowners have no assurances that a developer’s plan for a mammoth sewage disposal system near Twin Lakes would not contaminate drinking water wells.

That was the finding Monday of an independent county hearing examiner. She reviewed the politically charged proposal to pump waste from up to 400 Twin Lakes Village homes to a 10-acre drainage site near the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.

Examiner Jean DeBarbieris recommended county commissioners veto the plans.

Water quality experts could not definitively answer key questions, she said, including the following: “Can we be assured, in terms of reality, not merely in terms of regulations, that serious health problems will not result from any possible contamination of area wells?”

State-approved conditions for testing the wells would only have to illuminate contamination problems after they had occurred, she said.

The recommendation came as a pleasant surprise to nearby landowners, many of whom feared project approval would mean years of fighting over the health of their private water wells.

“This looks real good for us,” said neighbor Lois Loftin.

Commissioners are expected to make a final decision next week.

About two dozen neighbors nearly conceded defeat in May after learning state Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Coeur d’Alene, had intervened on behalf of developer Charlie Potts. Potts was battling state water quality watchdogs who wanted to put conditions on their approval of the plan.

Attempts to reach Potts were unsuccessful Monday.

Studies showed unspecified levels of harmful nutrients from the system would hit ground water within five years and travel to the aquifer through sand and gravel, according to internal memos from the Division of Environmental Quality.

DEQ workers had considered killing the project, but said they couldn’t because they didn’t know for sure if the site was above the aquifer or just outside it.

Most developments above the aquifer are allowed only one septic tank on five acres.

“Normally this site would have only two septic systems - not the equivalent of 400,” said Chuck Sheroke, attorney for the neighbors.

Yet before Monday’s recommendation, DEQ and Panhandle Health District, the two agencies with primary responsibility for protecting the aquifer, were prepared to approve the project.

DEQ officials deny that influence from Alltus - who serves on a committee reviewing the agency’s effectiveness - drove their decisions. Sheroke is skeptical.

“They have a legislator who is going to be instrumental in their funding for water quality work,” Sheroke said. “What would you do? You might let something bad go through once in order to let good things happen later on.”

The final outcome remains difficult to predict.

In previous decisions on similar cases, county commissioners have approved the project, claiming it was not their role to second-guess state aquifer watchdogs.

But in this case, DeBarbieris said, no state expert expressed unqualified approval.

Besides, she wrote in her opinion, “relying on government agencies whose areas of responsibility often leave huge gaps in management succeeds only in following the letter of the law, but does little or nothing to promote individual responsibility or the general welfare of residents.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT? Commissioners are expected to make a final decision next week.