Grant County may monitor fairgrounds septic systems

MOSES LAKE - Grant County may need to build monitoring wells for the septic systems at the fairgrounds.

State, county and Moses Lake officials met to discuss the septic systems at the fairgrounds Thursday.

The systems installed in 2008 were part of a series of improvements to the facility, which included the 4-H building, electrical upgrades, changing Airway Drive and the new pavilion.

The meeting was geared toward trying to determine the future of the septic systems at the fairgrounds, said Marcia Sands, a Department of Ecology hydrogeologist.

"We have a fairgrounds, it's been there for 100 years," she said. "So 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 20 years ago, we didn't know what we know now, and we have waste water, through septic systems, discharge into the ground here at that location."

The strata beneath the area is all gravel and sand, which lacks the bacteria to process the waste in the drain field. The waste has a high potential to go into the groundwater, bringing nitrates and phosphorous, Sands said. The lake already has issues with contamination.

"That lake contributes a large amount of revenue to this entire region," she said. "I drove over to Olympia last week, on my way back on a Friday afternoon about half of the cars on the road had boats behind them and they were all stopping at Moses Lake ... It's a big revenue draw for this entire region, not just the city, but the whole region."

Contaminating the lake is against state and federal law.

Sands pointed out the groundwater beneath the fairgrounds flows directly into the lake.

"There are some contentious issues here," she said. "We need to have an agreement on how to go forward in the future on this issue."

Sands and Richard Benson, a Department of Health Large On-Site Program Lead, supported connecting with the city sewer system. If it wasn't going to connect then they both said there would need to be some monitoring wells to measure contaminates in the ground water.

"I will take a moment and say, the county has some concerns about the fairgrounds (being) annexed by the city in order to connect to the sewer because the city owns the sewer. The county commissioners, at the time, had concerns about large animals at the fairgrounds and they may not be allowed in the city."

Sands said she went through the city's code and was only able to find reference to large animals in one code. The code prohibits large animals from roaming at-large.

"My interpretation would be they're not allowed to run down the street unsupervised, which I don't want large animals running down the street unsupervised in my neighborhood either," she said. "That seems like a pretty reasonable way to approach that."

City ordinance 18.14.020 addresses what are public nuisances and includes livestock.

"Public Nuisance Defined - A public nuisance is any thing, act, failure to act, occupation or use of property which: ... The keeping, permitting or harboring of any fowl, pigeons, rabbits, hoofed or cloven footed animals, except for caged birds kept within a residence or business," according to municipal code.

If the fairgrounds was designated as an "ag/agricultural" zone within city limits, the facility would be allowed "no more than three (3) animals shall be kept per acre of irrigated pasture," according to city code 18.12.050.

The fairgrounds remains in unincorporated Grant County.

Grant County Municipal Codes require buildings to connect to a sewer if it's available, she said.

Shawn O'Brien, Moses Lake city engineer, asked if the new systems treat nitrates and phosphorous any differently than the old systems.

"I don't think the new systems do any more about removing the nitrates down to drinking water standards," he said.

The sand bed systems in the septic systems now do a good job of removing pathogens, but not nitrogen or phosphorous, Benson said.

"Unless you put specific treatment in for it," he said. "You could, theoretically, up front and put it in, but those don't have it."

David VanCleve, a Gray and Osborne engineer, pointed out federal guidelines state sand-lined beds for septic systems reduced nitrogen between 20 percent and 60 percent. The amount can't be determined before the system is functioning.

"There was a nitrate balance performed per ecology's guidelines, and it showed there is an increase in nitrates, but it meets ecology guidelines," he said.

VanCleve said phosphorous is usually removed through a process in the soil, and they put 2-feet of sand in the field allowing for the bacteria and other organic items to aid with treatment.

O'Brien said the issue has continued for five or six years now, and isn't likely to progress unless the state forces the county to connect to the sewer.

"Does the DOE think this is an unacceptable installation?" he asked.

Sands replied the department doesn't have the authority to force the county to connect to the sewer system.

"What I can do is say, 'Well, I think you're contributing to the degradation of the lake. You need to prove to us that you're not,'" she said. "So that would be a monitoring system. You'd have to put in monitoring wells. You'd have to monitor them quarterly for a period of at least two years."

Additional water sampling would be necessary along the shore of the lake, and it would be a costly endeavor, Sands said; adding it might be less expensive for the county to simply connect to the sewer.

"Those could be considerably cheaper than the $1 million to hookup to the sewer?" Commissioner Richard Stevens said.

Sands pointed out it would cost less over time to connect to the sewer system.

O'Brien asked if the septic systems needed to be permitted by the DOE or the state Department of Health.

The Department of Health issues both a construction approval and an operating permit, Benson said. The permits will cost about $1,500 plus one cent per gallon for each of the five or six systems located at the fairgrounds.

"It's not that expensive in the big scheme of things to get an operating permit," he said. "We'd ask for some more things. We might, over time, ask you to do some improvements. I don't know what those would be."

Benson needed to speak to the department's attorneys and his bosses before determining what the county would need to do, he said.

"If the situation stayed the way it was, we'd probably come to you and ask you to at least get operating permits," he said. "I don't know what we would do about the nitrogen at this point, other than we might make you sink some monitoring wells ... to get some hard data."

Sands said ecology usually asks for one well up-stream from the septic systems and a minimum of two wells down stream.

"That would be something where your consultant would have to design a plan for our approval. They would submit the plan and then start doing the monitoring," she said.

The process would start with monitoring wells, Benson said; adding he couldn't predict where it would go.

Benson also pointed out the department likely couldn't force the county to connect to the city sewer system.

"We've got a rule that if it's available and it's a failure, we might step in and issue some kind of order, but if it's working we wouldn't," he said. "That's probably not what the city wants to hear. I'm just laying it on the table. We wouldn't want to go beyond our authority."

Commissioner Carolann Swartz asked if it was common for septic systems near the lake to be monitored.

"No," Sands said. "No, but they're not all supplying as many gallons per day as this one. This is almost an industrial facility."

Stevens pointed out it's serving the most people during the six days of the Grant County Fair.

"Well that's your big part during the fair, but you do have a lot of other activities out there," Sands said.

The commissioners said they would meet with Benson to discuss the situation further.