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Dundee to sign agreement with DEQ for sewer oversight |
By David Sale,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com
|
As the city of Dundee
discusses alternatives for the replacement of its aging sewage
treatment plant, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is
taking an interest in plant operations.
The city is preparing to sign a mutual agreement order with the DEQ,
granting the agency more direct oversight of the facility and
setting a timeline for its replacement.
“Basically, we know we’re out of compliance and can’t meet the
standards consistently without a new plant,” said Alan Mustain,
Dundee’s public works supervisor. “The agreement is a means to avoid
being fined for violations.”
The mutual agreement order will lay out a timeline for Dundee to
revamp its master plan and either begin construction of a new plant
— or a tie-in to the Newberg system.
The agreement also carries its own potential consequences. “We’ll
need to meet goals along the way or we could be fined for not making
progress,” Mustain said. “It’ll put a fire under our tush.”
Following DEQ’s September 2006 approval of newer, more stringent
standards designed to protect fish and wildlife habitat in the
Willamette River basin, Dundee has struggled to bring its operations
into compliance.
“It’s not just us — everyone was affected when they changed the
regulations for the total maximum daily loads (of wastewater) for
the Willamette,” Mustain said.
“We usually take samples of the biological levels and suspended
solids every two weeks. That’s increasing to a weekly basis. We also
have to check the temperature at 2 p.m. every day. There’s
additional tests to make in April when it starts to warm up again —
looking for mercury and other chemicals.”
But the issue for Dundee is not hazardous chemicals but the amount
and temperature of treated sewage discharged into the river due to
the current plant’s limited storage capacity to serve an expanding
population.
“We’re allowed so many violations in a three-year period and we
went over that amount,” Mustain said.
Dundee is engaged in a cost analysis and feasibility study of the
two options, but a still-unknown factor in evaluating the tie-in is
whether an agreement can be reached between the two cities.
“It’s not like the recent issue over drinking water,” Mustain
noted, referring to the Newberg City Council’s debate over whether
to extend water services to a subdivision outside city limits. “The
more people that contribute to sewer operations, the lower the cost
per household. We’ll be paying our share.”
But what type of agreement the two cities will reach is still
uncertain.
“There’s a lot of possible arrangements,” Mustain said. “Now that
Newberg has completed their master plan we’ll be able to get some
hard numbers.”
The council will receive an update on the progress of consulting
engineers Murray Smith and Associates at an Aug. 22 workshop at city
hall. |
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From
Aug. 15, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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