Harrington News

A public meeting of the Harrington City Council was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Mayor Paul Gilliland on Monday, Oct 20, 2014. Those present were: Council members Richard Becker, Michael Cronrath, Terry Howe and Levi Schenk; Clerk Loretta Haugan, Scott McGowan (maintenance) and visitor, Justin Slack.

The purpose of this meeting, as stated by the mayor, was to inform the public of a Department of Ecology water quality planning application which could assist the city in determining a means to reduce or eliminate the negative impact that sump pumps have on the operation of the city’s wastewater system and to prevent the threat of untreated water flowing into Coal Creek.

The mayor recalled the high snowmelt run off in March of 2014 that caused the lagoon dikes to nearly fail. The city managed to control the overflow and prevented it from flowing into Coal Creek. The dikes were then strengthened with stock pile materials. The need for emergency funding to correct and prevent a possible future catastrophic failure of these dikes was a high priority. A SEARCH grant for 100% funding through USDA was submitted. Then it was determined by USDA that since this was not a health or safety issue we did not quality for 100% funding. The city was not financially able to come up with funding needed to do this project. Later the national USDA verified the city was eligible for 100% funding. Phase one with USDA funding will support the following tasks:

1) Review the city wastewater treatment plant flow records with emphasis on highest flow rate.

2) Review water level data from ground water monitoring wells and close attention to water surface elevations during high flows.

3) Review the wastewater collection system map and sump pumps.

4) Implement a field investigation to include inspection of wastewater collection system and individual sump pumps.

5) Do the necessary environmental impact checklists and documentation.

The mayor then explained the second phase of this project in which we are asking for ecology funding through the Water Quality Financial Assistance Program. This phase would do more field investigating and record of flow monitoring. It would then determine a feasible method to deal with these high flows. The engineer would then provide a recommendation for alternatives and discussion of funding alternatives. It was stated that environmental impacts of this project are minimal.

The mayor showed a map of existing sewer lines and the route of the collection system with storm and sanitary lines. The area north of Main street is one of the areas of town where the investigation of sump pumps affecting the system will be studied as this is where it is felt that most of the sump pumps are located.