Sewer Work Nearly Done In Millwood

After seven years of ripping up asphalt and lawns so pipes can be buried, sewer work in Millwood should be done by fall.

“We’re all done tearing up roads,” said Eva Colomb, the town’s clerk/ treasurer.

Last September, the final sewer pipes were laid in streets in the northwest corner of town, Colomb said. Homeowners there have until this September to have their homes connected to the lines.

On Tuesday, county commissioners approved a $37,000 grant to help low-income Millwood residents hire private contractors to make the connections, a project that costs about $1,600 for the typical home. The annual grant - Millwood’s last - comes from the federal government but is administered by the county.

Sewer work started in 1990, when the town dismantled an ineffective and crumbling treatment plant that had served about 100 homes and businesses. During its final years, the tiny plant along the Spokane River didn’t actually treat sewage. Instead, the sewage was pumped out periodically and hauled to the regional plant west of Spokane for treatment.

Buildings that had used the plant were connected to new sewer lines linked to the county’s collection system. Other buildings in town had used septic tanks, and were connected to the sewer as the pipes spread, block by block.

About half the money for the sewer project came from the state Department of Ecology. More money came from the town’s own reserves, said Millwood.

Town council members “have been saving for sewer construction since the ‘60s,” said Colomb.

As a result, owners of the town’s 900 houses and businesses paid less for sewers than landowners in surrounding unincorporated areas.

, DataTimes