SNOHOMISH — A sewage pipeline to Everett would save the city of Snohomish about $5 million compared with the cost of upgrading its current treatment plant, public works staff told the Snohomish City Council this week.
Pumping Snohomish’s wastewater to Everett would cost $33 million, including the cost of buying into Everett’s system, said public works director Tim Heydon,
“The staff feels like this is a good option,” he said. “We’re pleased to see the numbers come out as they did.”
Still, the city doesn’t know where it would get the money to pay for the project, Heydon said. Snohomish residents have already started to pay with a 25 percent rate increase, and that won’t be anywhere near enough. Changing environmental regulations and a lawsuit that requires the city to meet clean-water standards forced the city to consider a $38 million upgrade project.
Just two weeks earlier, city staff had recommended paying an engineering firm $2.2 million to continue with plans for an updated sewer treatment plant. City officials were concerned that if they didn’t move forward on design plans, the city would miss an opportunity to take advantage of federal stimulus money for “shovel-ready” projects and miss deadlines spelled out in the lawsuit. The city also can’t apply for grants from the Department of Ecology until plans are drawn up.
The council opted Tuesday to wait on the upgrade plans until they know more.
“I hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but I told you so,” said Morgan Davis, a Snohomish resident and landlord, addressing the City Council. He has championed the pipeline as cheaper for ratepayers. He also lambasted the council for pushing ahead on the upgrade contract at the last meeting, rather than waiting two weeks until the city knew more about the pipeline option.
“It was a slam dunk, and they wouldn’t believe it,” he said.
The city staff learned crucial information during that two-week period, Heydon said. One of the most crucial is a Department of Ecology study that supports moving toward regional wastewater treatment plants, rather than letting small municipalities treat their own.
The pipeline option would entail building a four-mile pipeline to Everett along Lowell River Road, a pumping station, and another facility to handle storm water and sewers during storms. The city’s treatment plant would also have to be decommissioned.
The Everett treatment plant has its own $40 million upgrade planned, and if Snohomish decided to pipe its waste, Everett would change its plans to include the extra capacity, Heydon said. The system could be operational by 2013, which would meet lawsuit requirements the city has to meet, Heydon said.
“It’s tight but it all fits together,” he said.
The pipeline is far from a done deal. The consultant firm continues to gather information on environmental regulations and permits that might affect the project. And the city has to negotiate a buy-in fee with Everett, a process that could take more than four months, Heydon said.
As Councilman Doug Thorndike pointed out, the city still has a “$33 million problem.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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