Leaky Sewage Lagoon Creates Mess For County Sandpoint Won’t Extend Lines Unless Fairgrounds Annexed

A failing, outdated sewage lagoon at the fairgrounds has Bonner County commissioners in a bind.

State environmental officials said the system leaks and could overflow, sending raw sewage onto the ground. The lagoon does not meet state standards and needs to be replaced or tied into a waste treatment plant.

The nearest sewage line belongs to the city of Sandpoint. There’s just one problem. The city won’t allow the county to use its system unless the 20-plus acres at the fairgrounds are annexed into the city limits.

“We do have a problem out there. The system has pretty much failed completely,” County Commissioner Dale Van Stone said. “The commissioners and fair board don’t really want to turn the grounds over to the city. I would rather see this happen without annexation, but I don’t think the city is going to budge.”

The city instituted a policy years ago of not extending water or sewer service beyond city limits. Officials don’t want to set a precedent by making an exception for the county.

The county is not a private land owner and the two governmental entities should work together, Van Stone argued.

“We have a hard time seeing the city’s point of view. We are not going to be an asset for them if annexed. We won’t have to pay taxes. They really won’t get anything out of it,” he said.

The fairgrounds host the annual draft horse show and many community events. Fair board members fear the city could prohibit some of those activities if it were in charge.

Mayor David Sawyer was unavailable for comment. He has said he would sign an agreement that allows all fairground events to continue if the property were annexed.

“We might be able to come up with an agreement everyone can live with,” Van Stone said.

Problems with the lagoon system were spotted in April when it was inspected by Division of Environmental Quality engineer John Tindall.

Two lagoons where waste is held are not lined and the sewage seeps into the ground, he said. The ponds also have to be pumped out so they don’t overflow. The waste was being dumped improperly at a site near the now-closed Colburn landfill.

“We don’t allow people to have a facility they need to pump. It’s not an acceptable risk,” Tindall said. “It does not meet current standards, and we have put them (the county) on notice they need to come up with a different solution to their waste disposal.”

The county still is pumping the lagoons. The waste is being trucked to the Southside Sewer District. Tindall gave the county until February to hire a consultant and draft a plan for a new system.

The city, fair board, commissioners and Tindall will meet Monday, hopefully to broker an agreement to use the city sewer line.

“We are going to go over it again to see if we can’t get any closer on the annexation issue,” Tindall said. “It would be the most expedient way to go, and it would get the fair board out of the sewer business.”

Environmental officials also have the county under scrutiny for a installing a new water main without state approval.

A new jail is being built next to the fairgrounds. A city water line was extended for the project. The county submitted engineering plans for the job to the Division of Environmental Quality but did not wait for approval before doing the work. That is a violation of state law, said water quality specialist Gary Gaffney.

“I don’t know what happened or who dropped the ball, but someone did,” Gaffney said. He gave the county 30 days to explain why the violation occurred.

Even though installation of the water main is finished, Gaffney said the state will require some changes be made, costing the county more money.

“These changes could have been incorporated into the construction … had we been able to complete our review,” he said.

, DataTimes