Eastsound Sewer and Water District has expanded the scope of its OPAL Commons sewer project.

After meeting with residents last week, it became clear that homes located on the outer fringes of the area would have a difficult time running discharge lines from their septic tanks to the 2-inch sewer main that is set to be installed.

On Tuesday, the board approved surveying the area for four 100-foot extensions to go on the end of the main. The entire project will go out to bid by the end of the July, with construction slated to start at the end of October.

Commissioners said the OPAL Commons is a “unique set-up of homes, not a road with houses on each side.”

Residents of the seven-acre, 18-home affordable housing development between Seaview Street and Blanchard Road will have until 2019 to hook to the main. Properties may be required to connect earlier if a home is sold or its current on-site septic system fails.

According to Eastsound Sewer and Water District (ESWD), engineering reports indicate some of the septic systems in the development are close to failing, due to age.

Commissioner Carl Yurdin says the district’s main concern is the groundwater, aquifer, and public health.

“There could be a tipping point where this water turns bad,” Yurdin said. “It’s not an alarmist situation, we’re just doing our job.”

OPAL resident Ian Van Gelder told the Sounder that the total cost will run from $10,000 to $12,000 per connection, based on a $6,000 connection fee, plus installation costs. ESWD commissioner Ed Sutton estimates the cost at closer to $7,000. He said the district has received $83,000 in grants to defray the cost of installing the sewer main. Although the district has offered residents a low-interest financing plan, Van Gelder says it’s not a debt they are interested in.

In addition to the groundwater contamination concerns, San Juan County is required to provide urban level municipal wastewater treatment services to areas within the designated Urban Growth Area. As OPAL Commons is within that designation, the district has the power to “…compel all property owners within the district located within an area served by the district’s system of sewers to connect their private drain and sewer systems with the district’s system,” according to RCW 57.08.005.

The district is not permitted to serve homes outside the UGA.

The OPAL Commons community has a hired Bellingham-based 2020 Engineering to conduct a feasibility study for a sustainable enclosed alternative wastewater management system. OPAL residents’ concerns are both environmental and financial. Van Gelder had asked the board to wait until the engineering firm had completed its study, but commissioners declined the request. Yurdin told the Sounder that OPAL Commons has had three years to come up with an alternative plan, and time is running out to install the main as inexpensively as possible.

Van Gelder says he feels fine with the direction of the project, but holds out hope for more sustainable wastewater management.

“What’s been decided by the sewer district is not unexpected – we don’t object to it,” he said. “They made it known they are willing to extend branch lines off the main line to make it easier for differeent households to connect … We’re still pursuing our own study with 2020 Engineering about how we can come up with better solutions for wastewater management. The study has just started, so we don’t expect to see anything from them for another couple of months. But at this point in time, we are working with the sewer district to fit the main line into our neighborhood as best as possible.”