Liberty Lake moves on sewer work

The Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District is moving forward with plans for a $13 million expansion and upgrade project that would double sewer capacity.

The district is accepting bids for construction services through July 8 and hopes to select a contractor within the next three months, according to Tom Agnew, sewer commissioner.

Building would begin after the Department of Ecology gives final approval for the project.

Construction is estimated to take from a year to a year and a half, and the upgrades will provide an additional capacity of 1 million gallons a day, enabling the plant to serve the rapidly growing community.

Although the DOE hasn’t approved the district’s final plans, Agnew said the district worked with the agency over a period of years on their facility redesign and proceeded knowing that improving the plant’s technology was crucial for meeting future Environmental Protection Agency standards.

For years, the plant’s discharges into the river were cleaner than EPA requirements that are set in discharge permits, Agnew said. However, those levels were recently reset and now the current plant can’t meet today’s levels without significant modifications.

“We think we’re doing the right thing for the environment and for the economy. If we build the new plant now then our discharge into the river gets significantly better,” Agnew said.

The DOE stopped issuing new discharge permits in response to an emerging water crisis. Tests determined that the Spokane River’s dissolved oxygen levels are extremely low, in part because phosphorus from treated sewage acts as a type of fertilizer for unwanted algae, which chokes off oxygen and endangers native fish and plants.

Area sewer purveyors found themselves in a jam because tests determining Total Maximum Daily Load, or the amount of treated water that the river can tolerate, are one to two years from completion. Basically, it’s anyone’s guess what those requirements will ultimately be, Agnew said.

Until TMDL studies are complete, the district is operating under a temporary permit, which allows it to discharge up to 1 million gallons of sewage per day into the river until future EPA standards are set and a new discharge permit can be issued.

The project is being done in two phases.

Phase one will build the capacity to treat 2 million gallons a day to meet existing standards for removing phosphorous and other pollutants. Phase two will add features that further clean the water to meet future TMDL standards and guidelines for land application, in case water discharge into the river is limited.

If discharge into the river is prohibited during periods of low flow, the water would be a high enough quality to irrigate golf courses, fields and other properties.

Lee Mellish, general manager of the district, said the improvements could raise utility rates but are necessary to adhere to EPA standards that are designed to clean up the river. “If you’ve got to spend more money not only to run your plant but to update your plant, rates will probably go up.”

As the new plant moves closer to becoming a reality, expenses are mounting in the sewer and water district’s lawsuit to block the City of Liberty Lake from taking control of its assets.

So far, the sewer and water district has spent $131,000 challenging the city’s takeover attempt, citing concerns that the city wouldn’t protect lake quality and would likely impose a utilities tax, which could substantially raise rates.

“It would be great if we could start working together on all of the issues we have,” Mellish said. “It’s costing us both a lot of money that we could put together for our wastewater treatment plant.”

On the other side, the city has spent $47,900 on attorney’s fees and will pay an estimated $50,000 to $100,000 for a feasibility study that’s being prepared by Economic and Engineering Services of Olympia.

Lewis Griffin, city administrator for Liberty Lake, said a draft of the study, which could offer some answers regarding “assumption,” will likely be presented to the City Council at the end of June. After reviewing the report the council will decide on how to proceed with the takeover.

“The reason we went into this is we feel there will be a savings (in taking over the district) because of duplication in services such as insurance and engineering and various different things,” Griffin said.

“I’d kind of like to see it resolved. I think everybody would.”