City looks at cutting wastewater plant costs

As late as 1950, the city of Havre dumped only slightly treated sewage into the Milk River.

It was inexpensive for the city, and once it was dumped in the river, it became Chinook’s problem.

Chinook, for its part, dumped its sewage into the river and it became the problem of Harlem and Malta.

Over the years, the federal government has ordered cities to treat sewage to cut down on the adverse impact on the health and environment downstream.

Now, the latest federal mandate has resulted in the need for a $9 million upgrade to the Havre wastewater treatment facility. Bids are expected to be open soon, and construction will begin this year.

The result will be a cleaner Milk River for downstream communities to enjoy. And, on the dark side, a 40 percent increase in sewer rates in the city.

In order to try to keep operating costs at the wastewater treatment facility as low as possible, the city is undertaking a long-term effort to reduce the amount of storm water that goes into the plant.

Storm water can legally be put into the river without treatment, city officials were told.

Professional engineers Kevin May and Joseph Murphy of Big Sky Civil and Environmental of Great Falls updated city officials on the project last week.

They suggested the city undertake a project to run television cameras through the sewer pipes beneath city streets to detect where there might be leaks. Leaks are common, especially in clay pipes that were installed in older parts of the city, they said. Holes in the pipes enable rainwater to seep into the sewer lines, and the city ends up treating the rainwater in an expensive process.

Pumping rainwater into the wastewater system may mean that eventually, the renovated plant may be too small, and further costly additions will have to be made.

Sump pumps add to the problem, they said.

By state law, sump pumps are to be drained into the street, not the sanitary system. That’s not always practical in northern Montana, they admitted. But if they were, they agreed, it would mean less clean water going into the sanitary system.

But the solutions, they agreed, sometimes only create more problems elsewhere.

Under questioning from City Councilwoman Pam Hillery, the engineers agreed that not all of the rainwater being sent into the river untreated will be pristine clear.

It will, Hillery suggested, be filled with grease, oil and grit from streets, driveways and parking lots. That defeats the purpose of expanding the wastewater treatment plant, she asked.

And fixing manhole covers may result in more ponding on the streets, he said.

Councilwoman Janet Trethewey said one of her neighbors pumps his sump pump water into the street, as the law requires.

But there is always ponding on the street, and as water ice expands and contracts, the street is torn up.

“The street is a mess,” she said.