News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
If Sisters keeps growing at its current blistering pace, the city’s sewer system will reach capacity in three to five years.
With that deadline looming on the horizon, City Manager Eileen Stein has begun discussions with Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony about acquiring additional acres of forest land for expansion of the municipal sewer plant at the south edge of town.
Stein said the city is also beginning to explore the potential of new technologies to improve the quality of effluent, which could make the plant much more efficient, thus expanding its capacity.
Stein said the city is going to look into membranefiltration technology that could be accommodated in the existing plant with modifications. At this point it is unclear how much the technology would increase capacity, but it is believed the city could produce the cleanest possible Level IV effluent, suitable for irrigation purposes or even discharge into Squaw Creek.
The city system currently produces only Level Ieffluent.
“If we could (raise) our level of treatment we could explore irrigating the Lazy Z pasture, for example,” she said.
The city currently disposes of its effluent by spraying it on the forest floor. According to Public Works Director Gary Frazee, the city is limited by Department of Environmental Quality regulations to putting 14 inches of effluent on that land per year.
Another option would be to plant an alfalfa crop.
That would allow the city to put out 28 inches ofeffluent on the ground, doubling the rate of disposal and significantly increasing plant capacity.
However, Frazee acknowledged, that would require cutting down trees, which was not a popular option when the sewer system was originally designed and built.
The sewer system was designed and funded based on Sisters 1998 population of approximately 950 people. When it was constructed, the system was taking in 1,170 EDU (Equivalent Dwelling Units), the unit of measurement for the waste going into the system.
The sewer system was designed with an official capacity of 1,751 EDU, though Frazee says the city engineer Dick Nored believes the system can actually handle about 1,900 EDU.
As of March, the system was handling 1,481 EDU. That leaves only 270 EDU of capacity. New construction is already whittling away at that total.
Each new home is rated at one EDU; commercial uses often have multiple EDU impact.
The new McDonald’s restaurant will take six EDU off the 270 remaining.
The city charges a $3,000 Systems Development Charge (SDC) for each EDU of impact on the system.
Frazee said the plan is to use SDC funds — about $2.5 million — to pay for expansion and/or improvement of the system.
Frazee said there is concern on the street that city residents and property owners will have to bear the cost of expansion with increased fees. The current sewer fee is $39 per EDU per month.
“I’d like to think we’re not going to (have to increase fees),” Frazee said. “The plan is that we’re not going to.”
However, Stein cautioned that the $39 per month fee promised by then-Mayor Steve Wilson when the sewer was approved and built was not guaranteed forever.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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