Eastsound Water Users Association director Paul Kamin recently suggested that residents living in 29 homes in the Los Arboles area – outside the Urban Growth Area – welcome an Eastsound sewer main into their neighborhood.
For residents within the Urban Growth Area (UGA), connection to the sewer main has become an offer they can’t refuse, thanks to the state Growth Management act. Some of these residents fear making payments on the $6,500 sewer connection fee could sink them financially.
This situation is different, because the 29 homes on Michael, Terri and Timber Lanes are outside the UGA. The sewer district is not required to serve the area under growth management, and would even have to obtain a special exception (by proving both need and feasibility) in order to run a main into the area.
“You have the power to scuttle this if you want,” said Kamin. “If you don’t see this as having benefit to you, this [idea] will die.”
Kamin is concerned about groundwater quality due to rising nitrate levels observed over the past three years in Eastsound’s groundwater, especially as indicated by the Curtis well, a private class B system that serves the residents of Curtis Lane. He said water has naturally occurring nitrate levels of 1 mg/liter, but concentrations of 7 mg/liter have been recorded in the Curtis well. Any well reaching 10 mg/liter is at “maximum contaminant level” and must be shut down. Eastsound Water has three wells in the same area, and nitrate levels are creeping up in them as well (from 2 mg/liter to 6.7 mg/liter).
Nitrates can cause a potentially fatal blood disorder in infants under six months called “blue baby” syndrome; some data also suggests increased cancer risks. Kamin said nitrates can be an indicator of other potential contaminants in drinking water, such as pharmaceuticals (for which one test costs $1,500).
Watershed mapping created using groundwater data loggers in area wells indicates the Los Arboles neighborhood could be a likely source of the contamination.
“There has been significant effort invested in understanding this,” Kamin told the crowd. “I’ll admit that we do not yet have the smoking gun that proves the relationship between onsite septic systems and nitrate levels in the water.” While fertilizer and animal feces can also be sources of nitrates, a May 2010 report prepared by The Chazen Companies environmental and engineering firm cited onsite systems as the most likely source.
“For the sake of public health the sewer district is actively connecting your neighbors who are in the UGA,” Kamin said. He said most of the 29 onsite septic systems in the area are over 20 years old, and half are over 30. He estimated two-thirds are at high risk of failure. When these systems fail, owners will need a fix; and if there is a sewer main handy they will have a choice between installing a new onsite system or paying a connection fee and hooking to the main.
The voluntary nature of this offer could change someday, if the area becomes subsumed by the UGA.
“I believe someday the UGA will need to be expanded,” said Kamin, “and this neighborhood is likely to be included. The sewer district has the right to obligate those within the UGA to connect.” For now, Kamin has proposed that the district create a legally binding agreement assuring area homeowners that if they welcome the sewer main, they would not be required to hook up until they chose to do so.
While the neighborhood’s current older-style gravity, pressure distribution and sandfilter systems don’t remove nitrates, newer Advantex advanced treatment systems now being used can effect up to 90 percent nitrate removal, with consistent nitrate levels as low as 1 mg/liter. The effluent may be reused for subsurface drip irrigation. Advantex systems cost roughly $20,000 to install and $350/year for routine maintenance, not including pumpouts.
Eastsound sewer service costs $576/year, and that includes tank pumpouts and maintenance. Sewer service also prevents 100 percent of nitrates from reaching Eastsound aquifers: after treatment effecting 98 percent removal, the effluent is sent into the ocean, said plant manager Roy Light. Office manager Sue Kimple said the $6,500 one-time connection fee for Eastsound Sewer is slated to rise $700 per year over the next three years until it reaches $8,600, a number determined by planners to generate sufficient capital to support future capital facilities – so every year’s delay in connecting has a price.
Over the next few weeks the sewer district commission will be working with the area’s homeowners as it determines whether a sewer main in the area would be both welcome and financially viable.
