The city of Battle Ground is shelving its plans to construct a water reclamation facility after the Department of Ecology recently nixed the idea.
The city has spent at least six years and $780,000 pursuing the idea. Even though the project isn’t feasible at this time, City Manager John Williams said it’s still a viable project for the future.
“It doesn’t mean that money was wasted or it won’t be used,” Williams said. “Everything that was done was viable.”
“With the current regulations in place with the (Department of Ecology), it just won’t work,” he added.
Battle Ground Mayor Mike Ciraulo, however, said he is furious and the money was needlessly spent.
“We’re potentially looking at layoffs in our city. How can I justify that to the citizens?” he said.
For the last several years, city staff has been drafting the 20-year sewer plan. One of the components is addressing capacity needs for the next two decades. The options included increasing the capacity of the pipeline to the Salmon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (the current method) or constructing a city-owned and -operated reclamation facility at the site of the now-decommissioned lagoon on Southeast Grace Avenue.
The reclamation facility was identified as the preferred option because the treated wastewater could be used for irrigation at Cedars Golf Course, which currently pulls water from Salmon Creek. The treated wastewater also could be discharged directly into Salmon Creek.
The Department of Ecology gave the initial go-ahead to research the project. But recently, the DOE told the city the project is not feasible. Any runoff or discharge from a reclamation facility would exceed the acceptable level of nutrients in the creek.
Despite the DOE decision, the project is still viable, Williams said. The reclaimed affluent could be piped east or west of the city where the soil would allow direct ground infiltration. The clay-like soil in the Battle Ground area would not provide the needed filtration. That option is estimated to be more expensive than increasing the capacity of the pipeline to the Salmon Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, he said.
So for now, the city will put the project on the shelf until state regulations change, development alters the landscape or technology advances.
The city has spent about $3 million on the sewer plan, of which, about $780,000 was used to research the water reclamation facility. The city also received a $384,900 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Some or all of the grant was used for the water reclamation facility.
David Knight, DOE regional engineer for wastewater treatment plants, said the proposed plan was a “very worthwhile idea.”
“This was a project that everyone going into it had very high hopes for,” Knight said.
Once the feasibility study was complete, it became apparent to the city and DOE that a reclamation facility could not be constructed at the former lagoon site, he said. Knight said the city fully investigated the project and stopped pursuing the plan at the appropriate time.
But news of DOE’s decision upset several council members — and Ciraulo, who wants to know whether city staff was misled by the DOE about the feasibility of the project. The city council last week directed staff to compile a report with the chronology of work done on the sewer plan and the city’s communications with the DOE. The report will be presented to the city council during a future public meeting.
