MOUNT VERNON — Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Pickrell gave Knox County Commissioners food for thought as the county and Village of Centerburg negotiate a sewer contract for the Hazel Heights subdivision.
Hazel Heights is a 32-home subdivision on White Road in Hilliar Township. On the county auditor’s map, it is noted as Countryside Manor.
Since the homes are located in the township, the county is responsible for maintaining the sewer system. However, the lines tie into the village’s system.
The village charges residents a 100-percent surcharge because they are outside the village.
Since 2018, the county has not billed the village for maintenance costs.
Subdivision residents get their water from Del-Co. Del-Co reports the water use to the village, and the village bills the residents a sewer fee based on that amount.
However, the amount of wastewater discharge is more than the amount of water Del-Co reports goes into the system.
According to Pickrell, that is because groundwater or stormwater (I&I) infiltrates the system.
“Our groundwater table is extremely high over there,” he told the commissioners on Aug. 19. “We know we’re getting a fair amount when it rains, but we’re probably getting I&I even in the dry weather.”
The village contends it is treating excess wastewater, but is not getting paid for it.
According to County Administrator Jason Booth, Centerburg officials want to charge Knox County for treating the excess wastewater resulting from infiltration and infiltration (I&I).
‘We know it’s leaking’
Centerburg officials previously said the lines were installed in the 1960s to early ’70s.
“It’s old tile. We know it’s leaking. We know there are roots in there. We’ve been over there and root cleaned,” Pickrell said.
Preliminary engineering work indicates that it will cost approximately $607,000 to reline the main sewer line and reduce I&I.
However, residents are responsible for the lateral lines from their homes to the main line.
“If we fix the main lines, and we don’t fix their laterals — I can guarantee you their laterals are leaking, too — all we do is shove the problem to a different place,” Pickrell said.
Complicating the process is the fact that workers cannot access lines.
According to Pickrell, no one protected the sewer easement.
“We actually have a building over top of one of the manholes we can’t even get into. There’s a fence all the way down through there,” he said.
“We’re going to have to put some access manholes at the ends for them to try to [reline it]. But they can’t fix the laterals without going in and digging them up.”
“If we spend this money and fix our lines, and the homeowner doesn’t fix their lines, we’re still going to get I&I — and Centerburg’s proposing to charge the county for what we’re sending them to the sewer,” Booth said.
‘A horrible setup’
Booth said under the initial contract structure, the county was to get 15 percent of the sewer billing.
“It was a horrible set-up from the beginning, the way it was structured,” he said. “So when the contract stopped, and we stopped getting money, we were getting max of $10,000 a year.”
“The access to get to our sewer is slim to none. That’s why some of these prices are like they are.”
County water and wastewater superintendent Jeff Pickrell
Spending $607,000 to reline the main line, plus a surcharge for excess discharge from leaking laterals, does not make sense.
Pickrell said there are no grants available to help the homeowners replace their laterals.
Potential solutions include building a county plant
Pickrell said the preliminary $607,000 estimate includes inspecting the main and lateral lines via camera. The cost to camera the lateral lines is $520 per house.
Videoing the lines will identify which lines need replaced.
Additionally, the county recently spent around $10,000 to install a flow meter that measures the output from the pump station.
The meter will provide daily discharge flow data.
A longer-term option is for the county to build a plant and treat the wastewater itself. However, Pickrell emphasized that he is not proposing that solution.
Under that scenario, Del-Co would provide the water and the subdivision residents would become county customers. Pickrell estimated such a plant would cost less than $2 million.
The county will incur debt whether it spends $607,000 replacing the lines or builds a wastewater treatment plant.
It will not gain revenue through replacing the lines. If the county opts to build a plant, revenue from subdivision residents will help offset the debt.
However, Pickrell noted that Centerburg is quite a distance from the water/wastewater hub in Apple Valley. This increases workers’ daily travel time and responsibilities to monitor the plant in addition to the Jelloway, Pleasant View Acres, and Bladensburg.
Booth said the fear from the county’s perspective is that it will spend $50,000 a year in excess discharge fees to Centerburg but only get $10,000 in revenue.
“The optimal way is to figure out a solution with Centerburg that’s beneficial to the county and beneficial to them, because they have capacity to take sewer,” he said.
“But if it gets to the point that it’s beneficial to them and not beneficial to us, then we have to look at what’s in the best interest of our customers.”
Pickrell will obtain a ballpark figure for the cost of a new plant.
Centerburg says no to county’s request to take ownership
In 2021, the county requested that Centerburg assume ownership of the sewer system. It offered to upgrade the system using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
However, the Centerburg Village Council voted to take no action on the request.
Mayor Greg Sands said at the time that the revenue generated by the 100 percent sewer surcharge is substantially higher than the 1 percent income tax the village would collect if the homes were annexed into the village.
Additionally, the village would pick up costs for road and flood maintenance.
