New rules for sewer hookups

Septic tank users no longer must hook up right away to the sewer when it comes to their neighborhood.

Spokane County commissioners agreed this week to the temporary policy change in a bid to prevent a building moratorium.

Plans to build a new sewage treatment plant that would discharge into the Spokane River have been delayed while the county, state and environmental groups fight over water quality standards for the river.

At the same time, the septic tank decision will slow efforts to protect the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, the area’s chief drinking water supply.

“Now we have this dilemma of trying to protect the water quality in the aquifer but coming up with a solution that still protects the water quality in the river,” said Bruce Rawls, Spokane utilities director.

Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke called the change “counter-intuitive” and said he was frustrated by the situation.

“I’m not sure I see a lot of options on the table,” he said.

Until now, property owners have been given a year to hook up their houses or businesses to the sewer system after it was installed in their area.

Residents will still have to pay the $5,160 cost of bringing the sewer to their property lines, but they can wait to disconnect their septic tanks and hook up their homes to sewer until the county issues them a letter telling them they must do so within one year. That may not be for a few years.

The cost of connecting a home is about $2,000 to $3,000 on average, said Herb Dollar, owner of H&R Complete, a sewer and septic tank business. That cost doesn’t include any sprinkler or sod repair, said Dollar, who added that many people will delay the expense if they have a functional septic system.

“I think you’re going to see people let it run, and as long as it works, it works,” he said.

Limited capacity

Without the temporary withdrawal of the one-year requirement, Spokane County would have run out of capacity at the city of Spokane’s sewage treatment plant by 2009.

County officials had planned to have a new plant under construction by now, but the Washington Department of Ecology has declined to issue a permit for the plant while it works on updating water quality standards for the Spokane River.

The plant envisioned by the county would not likely meet the pollution limits proposed by the state. Spokane County and other wastewater dischargers – including Inland Empire Paper Co., an affiliate of Cowles Publishing, which also owns The Spokesman-Review – have asked Ecology to reconsider.

Ecology is expected to issue a decision on that request by the end of the month.

Rawls said the county should know by the end of the year whether it will be able to discharge into the river or needs to begin planning a different kind of plant.

The county should start planning for a different plant now, said Rich Eichstaedt, attorney for the Center for Justice, which is fighting for stricter water quality standards.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate trade-off, to shift the risk to the aquifer,” Eichstaedt said. “This just delays that planning.”

Meanwhile, Rawls said that the slowdown on septic tank elimination could give the county until 2011 to 2013 to have its own new regional wastewater treatment plant in place.

But exactly how much time the new septic tank policy buys depends on how many people defer their hookups.

The county is still on target to finish installing sewers within its septic tank elimination program by 2010, although it may be 2015 now before all of the septic tanks are disconnected. Before the policy change, the county was on pace to have every home and business within the area hooked up to the sewer by 2011.

Those who have already received notices requiring them to hook up their homes to sewer within 12 months must still comply, Rawls said.