Low-interest loans offered to fix failing septic systems

When James Matulis bought his first home on Spokane’s North Side a few years ago, he had no idea of the problem brewing in his backyard.

“There weren’t any red-flag warnings,” Matulis, who lives in a 1930s-era rancher off Northwest Boulevard, said. But the toilet soon began “burping,” as he phrased it, and then backups became common.

After several visits from city inspectors and private contractors who all said Matulis should have been hooked up to a 36-inch sewer main that ran by his home, a more in-depth search revealed that instead a cesspool was collecting waste in his backyard. The city quickly told him that he’d have to connect to the sewer or face a lien on his home. Estimates placed the cost for connecting at up to $14,000.

“I was curious about how much I could do on my own,” Matulis said. “I wasn’t expecting a $14,000 bill to connect to the sewer.”

Matulis began looking for financial assistance from anyone who could help out. Officials at the Spokane Neighborhood Action Program eventually pointed him in the direction of the Spokane Conservation District, which has recently received grant money from the state Ecology Department offering low-interest loans to county homeowners who own aging or failing septic systems. Walt Edelen and Barry Tee, two conservation employees overseeing the program, said the program – which was started in May – has already exceeded expectations.

“I told Barry, basically we’ve become septic social workers,” Edelen said. “It’s amazing – the stories. We’ve actually started to write some of them down.”

One of those stories belongs to Elsie Mack, a widow who bought her home in Spokane Valley in 2000. Mack lives on a fixed income and says she didn’t have the money to connect to the sewer when the city required her to do so, though she was charged for sewage services she didn’t receive.

“I understand the reasoning,” Mack said. “We live out here in the Valley. We live over the aquifer.”

The public health issue is what allowed the Conservation District to seek funding from the Ecology Department. Melanie Tyler, who helps oversee similar projects to repair and replace failing septic systems statewide, said the Spokane program is a relatively new addition to a trend that dates back more than two decades.

“It’s been very popular on the West Side of the state,” Tyler said. The department’s website lists current program assistance on the Puget Sound, and assistance is also available in northeast parts of the state including Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille counties.

The Conservation District lists many partners in helping to get the word out about the program, including SNAP, the city and county utility departments, Spokane County Community Services and the Spokane Regional Health District. Steven Holiday, the environment resources and liquid waste program manager for the health district, said his organization explores the possibility of grant money every time it receives complaints and notices about failing septic systems in the community.

“We’re thinking about the health issues, but also the issues with surface water and groundwater,” he said.

Conservation officials have long pushed for projects that reduce phosphorous runoff into the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers, citing failing septic systems as a concern. The issue became a political football in this year’s Spokane County commissioner race, as Al French justified pushes for an extension of urban growth boundaries north of Spokane as an effort to bring sewer lines to areas where aging septic tanks could be seeping into the Little Spokane River. His opponent, Mary Lou Johnson, accused French of ulterior pro-developer motives.

But conservation officials say they’re staying out of politics and simply offering a service that might not otherwise be available to low- and fixed-income residents. Edelen and Tee say they plan to ask for more funding, as the district has already facilitated 32 sewer hookups and one tank repair by doling out $125,000 in grant and loan money.

“We’ve got a so-much-better idea of what the need is out there,” Tee said. “There’s a lot more need, I think, than we anticipated.”

Once the ground thaws, Matulis will receive the sewer connection he thought he already had. That will let him do laundry and take showers at home again, something he’s had to stop doing since the trouble started.

And Mack, the Spokane Valley homeowner, said she thinks there are many folks out there who can benefit the same way she did. She enjoys a sewer hookup that took no time at all to install and didn’t disturb the reflecting pond, flowering bushes or sumac trees in her front yard.

“I really had my back against the wall,” Mack said. “I’ll tell you, I almost cried.”