Woods Bay sewer project making progress

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

More than 50 people packed into the basement of Bethany Lutheran Church last Thursday night to hear an update on the progress of a sewer project that would put much of Woods Bay on a sewer system, rather than the individual septic tanks currently utilized.

Bill Buxton of Morrison Maierle Engineering, who completed a preliminary engineering report on the project, said that the impetus for the work was increased levels of nitrates and phosphates in wells and in the lake.

Presence of the those nutrients is evidenced by algae growth along the lake and it's a sure sign that untreated sewage from tanks and drainfields is getting into the groundwater and moving into Flathead Lake.

Buxton said the PER showed the most cost effective thing to do would be to build a line to Bigfork's water treatment plant and have Woods Bay's waste treated there, rather than going to the expense of building a dedicated facility. Buxton said Bigfork has agreed to take up to 390,000 gallons per day from the Woods Bay area.

Residents at the meeting expressed concern over costs, both upfront and long-term associated with making the switch.

Buxton and Paul Rana, the secretary of the Woods Bay Sewer District, said that the project is designed to have many phases to maximize the percentage of the project that could be paid for by grant money. For instance, rather than obtaining $1 million in grants for a $5 million dollar, single phase project; it would be more efficient to obtain $750,000 grants for each of five $1 million dollar project phases.

"The phased approach maximizes the ability to get grants over and over," Buxton said.

Buxton did outline other costs associated with hooking in to the line, including the cost of running a sewer line from a home to the property line and the one-time hookup fee that Bigfork Water and Sewer charges. That fee would be $4,370 for Woods Bay residents hooking in, but Buxton said it was likely that grants could be obtained to offset or cover that cost for people with low or moderate income levels.

The project has been going on for about four-and-a-half years, Rana said, and there's a long way to go.

Scott Murphy, vice president of Morrison Maierle, said the project was at "step 100 of about 700 steps."

Buxton said the next steps for the project are to pursue more grants and finalize an agreement with Bigfork. More grants would fund the design stage of the project, which would hammer out many of the details, including firming up potential costs.

Buxton, Rana and Murphy all stressed that the project thus far has been financed entirely by grant money and volunteer work and that the community would be able to see hard numbers and vote before they were committed to any expenses.

Murphy said that a few years ago Florence made it through years of work and had $5 million in grants lined up and the community voted not to move ahead with the project because of costs.

For more information on the project, visit http://greaterwoodsbay.org or http://www.yennepoint.org.