Ephrata homes must connect to sewer

EPHRATA - Ephrata building owners with septic systems within 200 feet of a sewer line need to connect to the system.

City councilmembers maintained their position on an ordinance passed last year requiring buildings in the city to connect to the sewer system, during a recent city council meeting.

When the councilmembers initially passed the ordinance, they decided to remove a section allowing people to keep the septic tanks until they stopped working. The change left the building owners with a requirement they connect to the sewer system within 90 days if they were within 200 feet of a line.

"The section that was taken out of the ordinance had a more dramatic impact, I believe, than perhaps council was aware of. It was certainly larger than the staff was made aware of," City Administrator Wes Crago said.

City staff did a series of inspections, finding 50 properties with septic systems within city limits and finding some properties connected to the sewer and not paying for the service, Crago said.

"What we found is, of the 50 that are not connected to the city sewer, 36 are outside of the 200-foot boundary," he said. "However, 14 homes, and these are all residences, would fall under this ordinance and would be required in 90 days to connect to the city sewer."

When the homes were built, they were more than 200 feet away from the sewer line, Crago explained. The sewer line has become closer during the years.

"Some of the houses are old enough, some of the ones in Swanson Addition and the northeast, and I can't give you (an explanation,)" he said.

After discovering the number of homes was larger than Crago expected, he said the majority of staff continued to recommend the homeowners be allowed to keep the systems until they failed.

"This has a little larger impact than we were anticipating," he said. "Ten of us feel that you should amend it in a way that we were proposing and one staff member feels that you should not."

The majority of the staff recommended adding a requirement for annual inspections of the septic systems to determine whether they failed, Crago said, adding staff would need to define how a inspection would take place. Staff also recommended charging the residences with septic tanks less money for the sewer system.

Councilmember Heidi Schultheis asked how much it likely would cost the homeowners to connect.

"The range we put in the report was between $2,000 and $8,000," Crago answered. "Everybody tells us, 'Well, it really depends. Is there a tree in the way? How far is the line? Where is it connected to the house?' It could be more than $8,000 per house. It probably would not be less than $2,000."

City Attorney Katherine Kenison disagreed with the rest of the staff saying the recommendation had problems from both legal and business standpoints. From a business standpoint, the city owns a utility and requires people to connect, and the need to connect shouldn't be a surprise to them.

"As a utility operator, everybody pays into your system to support that system and when you allow people to get by, they are not participating as a payer or a supporter financially of your system," she said.

Kenison pointed out the people benefit from the rest of the services. When a city allows people to not participate in the utility, a smaller number of people are supporting the cost of the utility.

"I would want to know how you justify having the rest of the population subsidize the city services for those select few," she said.

She said not applying the code equally could potentially lead to lawsuits and under state law it's expected people in the city will be connected to the sewer system. She also said the city doesn't have any means to enforce an inspection requirement.

"Septic tanks can run contrary to the whole premise and theory behind growth management," she said. "We are also, remember, in a flood plain. We had some recent experience with some water coming down and when the water gets saturated in the ground like that, that impacts the ability of septic systems to function properly."

Councilmember Ben Davis said people could spend the same amount of money inspecting the system during the years as it would take to connect to the sewer system.

"Maybe the cost of $100 or more to have an annual inspection and if they're having to pump their tank on any kind of frequency at all, you add all of this together and it would probably be cheaper for them to connect to the city sewer."

Crago said the staff doesn't want to have the septic systems in the city, but realizes people invested a significant amount of money into the systems, and if they??re maintained and inspected they pose minimal risk.

Councilmember Heidi Schultheis agreed with Davis, saying it is likely to cost more, but it sometime is easier to deal with smaller costs over time, even if it's more money overall.

Councilmember Bruce Reim said the owners knew they needed to connect with the sewer when they purchased the homes.

"If because the city has expanded to incorporate you within that boundary, then the obligation would lie with them to meet the code," he said. "I think we're working real hard here to excuse and to allow ... My attitude is, welcome to the city, meet the code."

Mayor Chris Jacobson question how the inspections would occur in the first place, saying there only way to check the operation would be to pump the tank, check the baffling and dig up the edge of the drain field.

"My experience tells me that those folks in those gravel areas ... have abused their systems for the last 20 years and can get away with abusing their systems because they're in a gravel area," he said. "Most of those have already failed."

Crago stated after the meeting the city staff plans to continue checking records for septic systems, and send a letter to owners inviting them to a discussion about chances to the ordinance. The amended ordinance is scheduled to go to the council in early April.