A 30-year interlocal agreement to allow wastewater from the county’s Carlsborg Urban Growth Area to be treated at the city’s wastewater reclamation facility was signed by Sequim’s mayor and county commissioners at a joint city and county meeting, Monday, Nov. 24.

The agreement was a policy piece needed to move forward with the construction of a collection system and pump station in Carlsborg that will transport wastewater to the point of delivery (near 1453 W. Washington St.) where it will then be conveyed via gravity to the city’s wastewater reclamation facility.

“This is not the beginning of the end, but the end of a beginning,” Bob Martin, administrative director for Clallam County Public Works, said. “I think this is a milestone with one of our cities.”

The agreement establishes a new wholesale service relationship between the county and city for treatment and disposal of wastewater from the Carlsborg system. Although the agreement is specific to the Carlsborg UGA, it has been designed to allow Sequim to act as a regional provider of wastewater treatment services for additional wholesale customers, said consultant Gordon Wilson of FCS Group, which drafted the interlocal agreement.

The most immediate impact of the signed agreement will come to the city as an influx of revenues in early 2015 when the county pays its initial buy-in payment of about $1.3 million, Martin said. The payment includes part of the project costs, such as upgrades to the city’s collection system to adequately serve the Carlsborg UGA.

Based on county officials’ assessment of its projected demand for the next 20 years and city officials’ assessment of its available capacity, the initial capacity reservation for the Carlsborg UGA is 105,000 gallons per day or 6.29 percent of Sequim Wastewater Reclamation Facility’s total capacity, Wilson said. Every five years the city and county planners will revisit the amount reserved and adjust accordingly.

After years of grappling with the option to build a separate wastewater treatment facility in Carlsborg, utilizing the city’s facility became the favored option because it’s anticipated to have both reduced capital and operating costs and ultimately save more than $13 million in life-cycle costs between 2015 and 2050, according to the amended facilities plan. By 2050 the estimated cost to treat Carlsborg UGA’s wastewater in the city is $41 million.

Cost recap

The initial capital cost of the project is estimated at $13,340,500 through 2030 and county officials are prepared to fund the project with a $10 million loan from the Washington State Public Works Trust Fund and funds from the Clallam County Opportunity Fund allocated to the Carlsborg Sewer Fund created in 2010.

Beyond capital costs, annual income gained by the city depends on the amount of daily flow coming from the Carlsborg UGA, but according to county officials’ assumptions, the amount of daily flow should grow annually.

It’s estimated the county would be charged 98 cents per gallon of wastewater treated, Paul Haines, City of Sequim Public Works director, told the Gazette during an August interview. Additionally, the two operation and maintenance costs associated with the project – treatment and collection, include a 25-percent markup compared to city customers.

With the interlocal agreement signed, Martin anticipates phasing out all septic systems within the Carlsborg area within 10 to 15 years.

“The reason for phasing out septic systems is because we keep getting data with increased levels of nitrates, including data from the well the PUD uses in the area,” Martin told the Sequim Gazette in an August interview.

Additionally, the lack of a public sewer system eventually would restrict expansion within the Carlsborg UGA under the state Growth Management Act.

Once connected to the public sewer system, the monthly cost to Carlsborg residents is estimated to be $65-$70, Martin said. However, the more costly part for residents is the initial price to hook up to the public sewer system, which likely will range from $7,000-$7,500.

To reduce economic impacts and to entice more residents to connect to the public sewer system sooner rather than later, county officials plan to offer a reduced connection rate of $500 for the first two years.

One of many steps

Both Martin and Haines have collaborated for years to produce a viable option for the treatment of Carlsborg UGA’s wastewater.

“I think this project has been the top priority for me over the past four years,” Haines said. “We were able to get to this point because of willing partners and I’m pleased to have a mutual beneficial agreement.”

However, some public red flags arose once a member of the Dungeness River Management Team, Judy Larson, expressed concern regarding the risks involved with transporting wastewater across the Dungeness River, as well as the Carlsborg area’s loss of reclaimed water for aquifer recharge.

“There is a section (in the agreement) having to do with reclaimed water,” Wilson said. “If the city produces reclaimed water at a future date, and that’s a big if, then the county will have the right of first refusal to purchase at least the volume of wastewater that it discharges into the Sequim system.”

Additionally, communications and government relations manager for Clallam County PUD, Michael Howe, said the agreement has “caught the district completely by surprise,” and the district officials are concerned with water quality, lack of reuse system, design and operation, quantity of mitigation required in consistency with ecology analysis and economic analysis and mitigation costs, he said.

Despite the public comments, the city council and county commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the agreement.

Although a signed agreement is a step forward for the ongoing sewer project, Martin said, “there is still a bit to do” before wastewater is treated in Sequim.

Martin is awaiting final feedback on the facility plan from Department of Ecology officials, after which the facility plan can be adopted following a public hearing before the county commissioners.

Adoption of a connection policy and a sewer use ordinance also are needed and the design and permitting phase remain ahead, Martin said, but construction of the Carlsborg sewer system is anticipated to begin next year.