A Big Waste of Money?

November 1, 2008 in Breaking News, The Living River

Sierra Club says Spokane County’s selection of wrong sewage treatment technology could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and still pose environmental and legal problems.

In a letter sent this week to the Spokane County Commissioners, Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River Group warns that the county “is leading the public down a path it cannot afford” by opting for a water treatment technology this is ill-suited to meet stringent regulatory requirements needed to address the Spokane River’s dissolved oxygen problem. The letter urges county commissioners to rethink wastewater treatment technology before entering into a costly contract with CH2MHill.

“County Commissioners are poised to spend unprecedented sums on a sewage treatment plant,” says Rachael Paschal Osborn, director of the Sierra Club’s Spokane River Project. “Cheaper and much more effective technology is available. Spokane County has never seriously evaluated the alternatives.”

In February 2007 Spokane County predicted the plant would cost $106 million. More recently, Osborn says, County Commissioner Todd Mielke has predicted costs of $500 to $800 million. On Nov. 18, the Commissioners will vote to enter into a contract with CH2MHill to design, build and operate the new County treatment plant. The Commissioners have offered no justification for spending these sums of money, she says.

“The County will be unable to get a permit for this plant as it is currently designed,” said Osborn. “No permit equals no sewage treatment plant equals moratorium on future development. The County must adopt alternative wastewater treatment technology.”

Key arguments in Sierra Club’s letter are:

  • Spokane County will likely never be granted a permit to put effluent in the river during summer months.
  • Septic proliferation is a problem of the County’s making – change in approach is needed.
  • MBR (membrane bio-reactor) treatment is not the best technology, but it is just about the most expensive.
  • Plant design is inadequate to address sewage overflows to the Spokane River.
  • The County’s proposal to remove septic systems in exchange for discharging pollution into the River will not pass legal muster.
  • New and cheaper approaches are available to address sewage treatment.