Sewage spill prompts calls for action

A mudslide Tuesday that sent 11,000 gallons of raw sewage into Hayden Lake has prompted a call for Kootenai County to take a closer look at hillside construction projects.

The slide occurred early Tuesday morning, when heavy rains caused a torrent of mud to flow off a residential construction site on East Upper Hayden Lake Road and break a 11/2-inch sewer line at a home downhill.

Gerry House, chairman of the Hayden Lake Recreational Water and Sewer District, said the increase in construction on steep hillsides above the lake is raising the risk of even larger landslides. House said he would like all building permits for the area to be put on hold until each can be evaluated by an independent expert.

“There is quite a history of serious slides in that area,” House said. “We don’t feel there’s a lot more time. There’s a lot of rainstorms ahead of us this year.”

Kootenai County Building and Planning Director Rand Wichman ordered work at the site stopped Tuesday afternoon because the runoff violated the county’s site disturbance law. The county is looking into whether the case should be referred to the prosecutor’s office.

Wichman said it depends on whether laws were “flagrantly” violated or if the heavy rains simply overwhelmed any erosion barriers.

The property owner, Lee Sternberg, appears willing to fix the problem, Wichman said. “If the owner continues to cooperate and work toward getting it taken care of, that will go a long way toward having us not going after him,” he said.

Giant plastic sheets now cover exposed, muddy hillsides above two homes under construction at the site.

Wichman said there have been previous problems at the site. A gravel truck working at the project recently went off East Upper Hayden Lake Road, smashing a house downhill. The mud and sewage spill affected the house next door.

“The neighbors have had it pretty tough with this project,” Wichman said.

Although many lakeside homes are served with approved community drinking-water systems, the sewage spill could pose a threat to any residents who might still draw water from the lake, said John Tindall, an official with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Because of the heavy rains, “There is a lot of dilution that initially occurred,” he added.

Dumping sewage into a lake is illegal, but the state has not made any immediate decisions about legal action. “We haven’t gotten there yet,” Tindall said. “We do need to discuss internally whether or not there is something more DEQ needs to be involved with.”

Although 11,000 gallons of sewage might not pose a direct health threat to humans, the pulse of nutrients is bad news for the lake, which is already listed by the state as having impaired water quality because of excess sediment and phosphorous.

One of the biggest problems in the lake has been exotic aquatic weeds.

The sewage will act as fertilizer for the weeds, said House, with the local sewer and water district.

“With the problems we’re having with Hayden Lake right now, we just really can’t take a lot more events like this. Whether it’s sewage or sediment, it’s still the same cumulative problem that’s contributing to the degradation of the lake,” he said.

House said there’s growing outrage among residents that the lake will be muddied and ruined by development.

Flat sites around the lake were built on long ago. Houses are now being carved into steep, rocky hillsides.

The slopes also are being stripped of their protective forest cover, said House, who spent 37 years working for the U.S. Forest Service. A canopy of trees softens the impact of rain, and roots help bind soil to bedrock, he said.

Many of his constituents are from California, House said, and have called complaining about how Hayden Lake is beginning to resemble the deforested, landslide-prone state they fled.

“We have an obligation to step up another notch,” House said. “We’re going to respond. We have to take action. We have to figure out what’s wrong.”

County Planning Director Wichman said his staff will begin conducting an internal review of building plans on steep sites to check for possible problems.

“I think it’s likely there are more than just this one out there that have plans that are less than stellar,” Wichman said.