Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
It appears the Tekoa sewer line replacement project has begun to reap its intended benefits.
The town is now seeing lower electricity costs at the sewage treatment plant along with lower chemical costs. Both results are attributed to new pipes cutting infiltration of ground water in the system. That cuts down the volume load on the treatment plant.
City Clerk Kynda Browning reported that in 2013 Tekoa paid $10,164 less than budgeted for utility costs and $4,810 less for treatment chemicals.
The sewer line replacement project, which started with a 1,500-foot stretch in 2007, has replaced thousands of linear feet of sewer lines in Tekoa. The old pipes were porous to the point that when Hangman Creek rose, water would seep into them and subsequently get pumped to the sewer plant.
In turn, much more liquid was being treated at the plant than was necessary.
Last summer, an 8,000-foot stretch of pipe replaced along the creek was a much longer section than had been done yet. It was also the first of the lines along the creek and the results started to show.
In the fall, Tekoa Public Works Director Duane Groom saw the daily flow levels at the sewage plant go down 30,000 gallons per day.
“We’re pumping less which means we’re treating less,” Groom said. “Every gallon not treated is savings.”
“I didn’t think it would be that significant that quickly,” said Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger. “We’re going to be able to take money we’d pay to Avista and help pay the (construction) loan off. It’s a good deal for the community.”
With the differences now being seen in the bottom line, an estimated 3,000 more feet of sewer lines are set to be replaced this summer.
“We’re anticipating it might even reduce (the costs) more. It might make even more of a difference,” said Jaeger.
For the new work to come, the city received a loan and a grant in December.
The $824,102 loan is from the Washington State Department of Ecology while $285,500 comes from a federal Community Development Block Grant.
“We don’t expect to need the full amount of the loan,” Browning said. “We applied for that amount not knowing whether we would get the grant.”
All told, the various-sized gravity sewer pipes to be installed this year will again be mostly along Hangman Creek, at the south end of town.
“The creek can rise six feet overnight,” said Groom, referring to snowmelt.
These new pipes will be just like the replacement pipes already installed.
Also, Groom indicated, this spring the city will be able to get a total count of the reduced water that is now being pumped to the sewer plant.
“The purpose (of the replacement pipes) is to reduce infiltration and inflow into the sewer system,” said Matt Morkert, vice president with Century West Engineering, which worked on the project last year. “On certain days in Tekoa, we’d see upwards of one million gallons a day on a system which typical flows were 200,000 gallons per day. It was pretty well correlated with creek flows.”
After this summer’s estimated 3,000 more feet of replacement line, continued work may or may not be done, depending on the point of diminishing returns for the cost of pipe replacement.
“We’ll do a qualitative analysis and assess what we’ve taken out and the infiltration inflow and see if (the costs make sense to continue),” said Morkert.
So while the pipes do their work, the town’s bills go down.
For electrical power to the sewer plant, Tekoa’s budget for Avista dropped from $31,000 in 2013 to $25,000 for 2014.
For chemicals which treat the sewage, the town’s budget has gone from $10,000 to $6,000.
All of this will help as the town has an active third loan which it is paying on.
“We’re hoping the savings will make it so we don’t have to increase rates,” said Browning.
She went on to indicate that for the past four years, the city has been putting as much as $42,000 aside from the sewer reserve fund for the sewer line replacement project. Part of this has been used to pay on other loans.
These include a $128,000 Washington State Public Works Trust Fund, which is scheduled to be paid off in 2028 and a state Department of Ecology loan on which $74,000 is still owed, due to be paid in full in 2022.
A third loan was signed off on in November for $55,404.91, which was a planning grant for the sewer-line replacement project. It’s due to be paid off in 2018.
Seven years ago, Tekoa began to raise water and sewer rates in preparation for the big replacement projects.
Rates were raised $5 per year for three years in a row, with the money going into an account to pay loans off for the project.
Jaeger said the newfound savings from Avista and chemicals costs could go right into this account.
“It can if we want it to. I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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