Canyon wide sewer system to challenge DEQ rule as project gets closer to reality

Detroit, Idanha, Mill City and Gates could see completion by 2024, thanks to dedication by Marion County

By Michelle Gates

Mention the term sewer system to almost anyone in the Canyon, and you’ll get a shrug of disillusionment. It’s a project that’s been in the works since 1969 and most people have just about given up on the idea.
But in 2014, an economic opportunity analysis found that the #1 missing component in the Santiam Canyon was a full service waste water solution. It was then that Marion County decided they needed to do something. So they’ve given it a reboot.
Armed with resolutions from local cities, Management Analyst Danielle Gonzalez has been working with city councilors, government representatives and organized volunteers to finally get this sewer system done.
Gonzalez was hired by Marion County because of her experience with big projects. And this is going to be one big project.
“The first step was to talk with the communities and find out if they wanted a sewer system. Our first feasibility study, which included Lyons and Mehama, came back at $97 million dollars. People freaked out at that number - but that’s when I got the feedback. Then they started realizing that yes, this could be done.”
Lyons and Mehama have since been temporarily removed from the project, saving over $30 million and keeping control of the project in Marion County. The system now includes Mill City, Gates, Detroit and Idanha and each of them have passed resolutions telling the county that they are supportive of the efforts. The entire project, including customer hookups, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.
The group is in the process of securing a firm to conduct the engineering study, with an estimated cost of $400,000. Organizers explained that much of the money for the project would come from federal, state and community partners.
Marion County is heavily invested and is dedicating $250,000 toward the project in next year’s budget. “We have to make sure that it’s sustainable,” said Gonzalez.
It would open up an array of opportunities for development along the North Santiam River and the Highway 22 corridor.
Although it’s still early in the project, some of the details are firming up. In Detroit and Idanha, the sewer system boundaries would include private and city properties in and near city limits. Detroit would pump their waste water up to Idanha for the simple reason that Idanha has the only available land for a system, said Ken Woodward.
Some locations, like the marinas in Detroit, would have to be excluded because they are on federal lands and, “You can’t use federal money on federal lands,” said Danielle Gonzalez. “But we can get the lines as close as possible to those places.”
The City of Gates is proposed to tie into the existing Mill City system, and although the project is spearheaded by Marion County, it will likely cross into Linn County. Mill City is supportive of the project because it would help pay for needed repairs and expansions for their waste water treatment plant.
“When we built our system, it was mandated to have 10% extra capacity and we have reached that,” said Mill City Mayor Tim Kirsch. “It was a 25 year system and we’re over that. We are easily at $100,000 in repair costs right now.” The Mill City and Gates system would stop at city limits but would be accessible in the future for county residents to tie into it.
Crossing into Linn County means that Lyons and Mehama would be able to tie into the system at some future point. But for now, they are not being included in the project because it does not work financially. Gonzalez explained that if the households in Lyons were included, Linn County would have to take over the project, and it would increase the cost by $30 million. And, “Linn County is not really wanting to participate,” said Gonzalez.
Even with so many questions up in the air, the group can estimate a monthly cost per person based on what they have decided to this point. Under federal guidelines, the cost must be “affordable”, which is defined as 1.4% of median household income. That comes to about $45 per month, which is “about what Mill City is right now,” said Mayor Tim Kirsch. In comparison, Ken Woodward estimates that a well maintained septic system would conservatively cost over $23,600 for 30 years, while a municipal sewer system is estimated at under $17,000 for that same time period. The initial connection fees are anticipated to be free.
As the volunteers have long discovered, cost is a significant factor in completing a sewer system, and part of that cost is because developers can’t release the treated water directly into the North Santiam River. That’s because the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality created the Three Basin Rule, which applies to only three rivers in Oregon: Clackamas, McKenzie & the North Santiam. It’s intended to preserve the water quality for municipal water supplies, recreation, and aquatic life between here and Salem.
This restriction will add 20% to the cost of the wastewater treatment, said Danielle Gonzalez, so they are planning to ask for a variance on this rule and allow treated water to be discharged into the North Santiam River.
But some people question the viability of bypassing the Three Basin Rule. Rebecca McCoun from the North Santiam Watershed Council explained that there are questions that must be answered before discharge would make sense.
“The water rights in the North Santiam are already over allocated. If you’re putting in a treatment facility and allowing growth, is there enough water to sustain the growth? What if we can’t fill the reservoir (because of) climate resiliency?”
Another issue is water temperature, said McCoun. “How do you deal with the problem of higher water temperature? You can’t just have warm waste water go into the river water. That would impact aquatic life like salmon and steelhead. Sewer systems usually need cooling ponds for the water before they can discharge it. It has to be super clean, and cooled, and how would they do that? Where does the solid waste portion of the affluent go?”
Discharging into the river would also complicate infrastructure throughout the Willamette Valley. “The City of Salem’s infrastructure is based on very clean water….would the city have to retool their sand system to handle less clean water?” Other cities like Stayton, Jefferson and Albany may also be impacted. “There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and issues that need to be looked at closer,” said McCoun.
But by not challenging the Three Basin Rule, it means that communities like Detroit and Gates must have enough ground to treat the water before it enters the river. Some people think this is an unfair cost to the Santiam Canyon. “It’s a burden on the communities up here to keep the water so pristine that Salem is getting a discount because they don’t have to pay for extra treatment standards,” said Danielle Gonzalez. “These communities deserve to be viable.”
“We feed everybody down stream and they should be looking out for us upstream,” said volunteer Elaine DeGeorge.
The group is seeking community partners and volunteers with grant writing and contract procurement skills. For more information or to volunteer, contact them at www.co.marion.or.us/CS/EconomicDevelopment/Pages/North-Santiam-Joint-Wastewater-Project.