Sewer Q&A Held at Council Meeting

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted a question and answer session with experts involved in the proposed wastewater treatment plant. Voters will decide whether or not to allow the board to move forward. Ballots for the bond election are being mailed Nov. 23 and are due back to the Missoula County Elections Office Dec. 13.

Seeley Lake Sewer District Vice President Mike Lindemer introduced the panel.

Engineer Craig Pozega from Great West Engineering (GW) was attending to answer technical questions. Pozega and GW have been involved in the design of the proposed collection system and wastewater treatment plant.

Missoula City-County Health Department Sanitarian Jim Erven answered questions about pollution and about a Special Management Area (SMA) in Seeley Lake.

Seeley Lake Sewer District Manager and Director of Missoula County Public Works, Greg Robertson, answered general questions about the district.

Dan Johnson, Area Specialist, from the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development (RD) answered questions about funding. RD has provided the final piece of the funding package consisting of $5.7 million in grants and $4.4 million in loans. The bond election the voters are facing is to repay the loans.

After introductions the council opened it up for questions and comments.

Note: The "phases" are also being referred to as "sub-districts" in various places dealing with the sewer. Sub-districts is the legal term but historically they have been called phases.

How were the boundaries of the district set and why?

Robertson said that it is one of Seeley Lake's great mysteries. It was created in 1992 and Robertson didn't think it had changed much.

Has the district looked at expanding to include the state leased lots and lots along Morrell Creek just outside the district? If so, can the system handle the added wastewater?

Robertson said the district has had discussions with the state about lease lots joining the district but it is complex because of the state ownership.

The district has not wanted to add additional properties until the system has started to be constructed. They have focused on getting started, not expanding.

"One of the reasons this particular design was chosen is because it is very expandable," said Pozega.

Pozega said the system could easily be doubled from the 500 lots currently in district by adding on to the treatment plant. No additional land at the treatment plant would be necessary.

What is the timeline for hooking up future phases?

Robertson said the state legislature works on a two-year cycle. Because grants come available every two years, Robertson set the district up to follow suit. Every other year a new phase would be built.

Has anyone ever looked to see if the fertilizer used on the golf course is contributing to the algae blooms on Salmon Lake or is it coming from Seeley Lake?

Erven said that he hasn't been involved in any studies of Salmon Lake but his understanding of it is that it is a phosphorous not nitrate in the water causing the algae blooms. Fertilizers do contain phosphorous and nitrogen.

Erven explained that nitrates in surface water are uncommon because when nitrogen hits the surface, it changes forms.

"Nitrate is more of a ground water problem than a surface water problem," said Erven

The issue on Salmon Lake is another compound issue that should be looked at as well as the ground water issue in the town of Seeley Lake according to Erven.

What is the total cost of the project?

The total cost of the project being voted on is $12.5 million. Voters are being asked to fund $4.4 million of that while grants make up the remaining $8.1 million.

This is for the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, the main pipe to town and the collection system for Phase I.

Future phases were not addressed because they are not designed yet and nobody knows what grants will be available.

What is the monthly debt service cost?

Robertson explained that all phases would pay toward the treatment plant and main pipelines. Phase One would also be paying for their collection system.

Phase One would pay $30 per month for residential lots and $59 per month for non-residential lots.

Phases two, three and four would pay $13 per month for residential lots and $28 per month for non-residential lots.

What is the estimated monthly operating and maintenance (O&M) cost?

The short answer is $35 per month if future phases are constructed as scheduled.

Robertson said that it is important to move forward on construction of future phases. The more people on the system, the cheaper it is for everyone.

To keep the O&M costs down for Phase One, Robertson came up with a plan for subsidies. The subsidies will come from the district reserve, a county grant and continuing the current tax/administrative fee for the future phases.

As phases are built, their current administrative fee of about $80 per year per residential lot would be replaced with O&M costs.

Initially the O&M cost for Phase One would be lower. According to O&M estimates posted on the district's website, costs would increase to approximately $35 per month when phase two and three are constructed. There would be no subsidy at this point.

Robertson said that RD has required the district to have a fund to replace things like pumps and other items that wear out and break down. This Short Lived Assets (SLA) fund sets aside $26,698 every year according to O&M documents posted on the district's website.

The SLA is included in all the districts O&M calculations so it doesn't change the $35 per month O&M estimate.

What is the unsubsidized O&M cost for Phase One if future phases of the district are not constructed within four years as planned?

Robertson said without the subsidies Phase One would be paying around $100 per month.

What makes the RD funding special and would it be available in the future?

Johnson said in the last few years he has seen the percentage of grant to the percentage of loan change. RD has given out fewer grants and more loans that must be repaid.

"It was truly amazing to see the amount of grant that our national office staff made available for this project. It was utterly amazing," said Johnson. "It was necessary to get us even this close to making the project work. I don't see that being available again. This may be a once in an awful long time opportunity."

If bond election fails, is the county or state going to make it difficult for a resident or business to sell their property if it is not brought up to code?

Erven said simply selling a property does not trigger any reviews of the septic system as long as the use of the property was remaining the same. It is when new or increased use is proposed that the county can require the owners to upgrade their septic system.

This could be problematic if the ground water continues to show nitrate pollution. State and federal water quality standards won't let the county issue permits for new and increased use that may add to the pollution problem.

Landowners would have to prove that they are not going to contribute to the nitrate problem. Proving this can be costly because the landowner might have to drill wells to determine the direction of ground water flows.

If the bond is voted down, will the government come in and force the issue at some point?

Robertson said he doesn't really have an answer but the state and federal government can use the Clean Water Act to deal with water quality issues.

According to Robertson the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has used this act in Missoula County in the past, most recently on 1,100 properties along Mullan Road west of Reserve Street.

Robertson said the funding package for Seeley Lake is one of the largest RD has ever offered a community.

If the bond election fails, RD's funding will go away and the other grants the district has will go away. Robertson feels that it will be a long time before a funding package like this comes around again.

What is the history of the Special Management Area (SMA)?

Erven said that around 2011 data started to show elevated nitrates in the groundwater. In 2013, the health department enacted an "area of concern" and started restricting new and increased use.

The SMA for downtown Seeley Lake was created as part of the health department's revisions to Regulation One in December of 2015 and set the official boundaries of the area. This change was more of a formality than anything because the health department was already enforcing it as an area of concern.

"Frankly, we have written very few septic permits within the area of concern, now the SMA, because of the cost," said Erven.

There are systems that remove nitrogen but they are expensive, generally doubling the cost of a standard residential system according to Erven.

How were the boundaries of the SMA set and why?

Erven said they used the test data from the contaminated wells but didn't know exactly how the boundaries were set because he didn't work for the health department at the time.

A map of the SMA is available on the Pathfinder's website with this article.

Did the county consider holding any public meetings in Seeley Lake before placing town in a SMA?

Erven said that all the discussion was in Missoula at Board of Health meetings. They did the required public notice and advertised as best they could. They also did emailing to interested parties.

The Pathfinder looked up the legal notices that were printed for two weeks in the Missoulian and there was no mention of Seeley Lake.

The SMA was also not mentioned in any of the agendas for the meetings available on the health department's website. There are minutes of at least one of the meetings available online that shows some of the discussion.

Erven reiterated that the SMA didn't actually change anything in how the health department treats Seeley Lake; it just formalized what had already been done.

Erven also said there wasn't any room to flex on the SMA issue because they are held by state and federal laws to make sure new permitted uses aren't adding to the groundwater pollution problem.

What triggered Rovero's to have to install a new system last fall?

Erven explained that Rovero's was a unique situation because they had expanded operations over the years and not upgraded their system to match.

When it came to light that their system had failed and needed to be replaced, the permit was looked at as a permit for increased use.

Even though Rovero's hadn't recently increased its use, it was considered increased because they were never permitted for the amount of wastewater they were discharging. Rovero's was forced to upgrade to a Level II system that reduces the nitrates being discharged and handle the current volume.

For commercial businesses "increased use" is anything that will increase the amount of wastewater discharged. For residential property "increased use" is adding bedrooms or dwelling units, like making a duplex out of a single-family house.

Erven said it's important to understand that the rules are not being applied to existing use. A landowner can replace their system if it fails with a similar system just so they aren't adding to the use.

What did the Seeley-Swan High School have to go through to add a theater and bathroom being that they are in the SMA?

Erven said the project at the high school wasn't looked at as new or increased use because the project wasn't increasing the cliental or increasing the wastewater discharged. The high school said the number of students served and number of events are staying the same so the county approved it.

Erven noted that adding a bathroom doesn't increase use unless it somehow adds to the number of people using the site.

Other public comments:

Several people, both landowners in the district and people out of the district, expressed concerns about the water quality and economic impacts of not installing the sewer system.

A common thread amongst those who do not live in or own land in the district is that they would be willing to help financially. They asked repeatedly if there was a way to help.