County Struggles With Dirty Job Commissioners Without Sludge Dump After Vote To Close Round Mountain

Kootenai County is struggling to solve a messy problem - how and where to dispose of waste pumped from septic tanks.

Commissioners this week officially closed the Round Mountain sludge dump, which has served as the county’s only disposal site for 20 years. County officials said the site was not in compliance with numerous safety and environmental conditions.

Despite the lack of compliance, commissioners will entertain another proposal from Round Mountain owner Gary Adams and his partner Dale Boudro to build a new septic treatment facility at the same site.

They hope to build a “dewatering” facility - a sophisticated machine that would separate the liquid waste from the solids. The liquid would be treated, then sprayed on crops at the site. The solids would be dried out and shipped to the county landfill.

Commissioners will hear that proposal in a public hearing Feb. 24.

If that plan falls through, the Hayden Area Regional Sewer Board has said it might be interested in building a similar operation at its Atlas Road site.

“Our board has said that if no one else does it, we would come up with a plan to handle that (waste),” said Kent Helmer, administrator of the sewer board.

Helmer added that if the sewer board ever built such a facility, it would accept septic waste from Kootenai County, but not from Washington state.

County documents show that in the past two years, 52 percent of the septic waste dumped at Round Mountain came from Washington.

“We wanted to have some options other than just one,” said county Commissioner Dick Panabaker, who is also a member of Hayden’s sewer board.

Adams said he and Boudro can begin building the dewatering facility as soon as they receive approval from the commissioners, weather permitting.

“We’re ready to go, we just need this,” Adams said.

But neighbors of the Round Mountain site, who have been fighting against it for years, say they’ll oppose the new project too.

“It’s just not feasible as far as I’m concerned,” said Irene Rower, who has attended many public hearings on the subject with her husband, Don. “We have no guarantee that he (Adams) will do things in a different manner. We need some proof.”

Neighbors have complained about the smell for years and worry that their wells will become contaminated. The site also sits at the edge of the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, the region’s sole source of drinking water.

Since Round Mountain closed in mid-December, the county’s septic haulers have had to find other ways to dispose of the waste.

Many of them have hauled it to the regional wastewater treatment plant in Spokane.

“I’m not sure there’s anywhere else they could go,” said Tim Pelton, superintendent of the plant. Pelton said there has been an increase in volume of about 10 to 15 percent.

Though Pelton said nothing about Spokane ever turning away the septic waste, he said Kootenai County needs to solve its septic dumping problem.

People whose businesses rely on a place to dump waste agree.

“Kootenai County needs to do something to service their own people in the county,” said Mickie Seager, manager of Northwest Cascade, a portable toilet business. “By shutting Round Mountain down, it’s going to increase the cost for everybody here in the area. It’s an inconvenience.”

Adams, who also owns Roto-Rooter, said he has increased his prices since he started hauling waste to Spokane. He used to charge $195 to pump out a septic tank. Now the fee is $235. The tanks are supposed to be pumped every three to five years.

“Everyone’s price had to be increased to cover travel over there,” Adams said.