Hayden Plans To Add 5 More Miles Of Sewers Project Part Of Long-Term Effort To Save Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer

It’s going to cost Ted Kern and his business partners $50,000 to $100,000 to hook up their industrial park to a new sewer system proposed for parts of Hayden.

Putting the park on a septic system, on the other hand, would cost only about $5,000.

So Kern prefers the septic system over sewers, right?

Wrong. He wants the sewers.

“It’s a lot more money to me, but are we going to create an area where where no one wants to live? We’re right over the aquifer,” he said. “The reality of it is that we’re going to be living in the sewer if we don’t contain it and control it.”

Hayden city officials want to install $2.1 million worth - more than five miles - of sewer lines in the city. The project would require 429 property owners to connect to the new lines. They also would pay about half the cost.

A homeowner, for example, would pay $4,525. The cost can be paid over 20 years.

A public information meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Hayden City Hall.

A public hearing has been scheduled there for June 28 at 6 p.m.

Hayden is one of several communities perched on gravelly soils over the Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer. The aquifer provides drinking water for the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane areas.

Charlie Gay, the city’s engineer for the project, said city officials expect a few homeowners to balk at the cost.

“We’ve never had a large-scale protest,” he said. “They know it’s for the good of the aquifer.”

The state Department of Environmental Quality has agreed to give the city a $1 million grant to help pay for the project, he said.

In 1978, Hayden signed an agreement with local health officials. In exchange for lots smaller than five acres, the city agreed to eventually connect residents to a sewer system.

City Clerk Lila Truesdell said the city began building sewers in 1986, then added more in 1993. This latest round would bring 90 percent of the city onto the sewer system.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SEWERS IN HAYDEN Project: Installing 27,000 feet of sewer line to replace 429 septic tanks over the Rathdrum Prairie. Cost: $2.1 million. Who pays: $1 million from the Department of Environmental Quality. Property owners pick up the rest - about $4,525 per home. Residents have up to 20 years to pay it off. Who it includes: Sections of Commerce Ave., Jensen Ave., Dakota Ave., Maple Street, Miles Ave., Lacey Ave., Wyoming Ave., Government Way, and near U.S. 95. A detailed map is available at the Hayden City Hall and the Hayden Public Library. Why the city wants to do it: Health officials are trying to discourage septic systems over the Rathdrum Aquifer. When this work is done, roughly 90 percent of the city will have sewers. Timeline: Construction, starting this fall, would take about a year. Upcoming meetings: An informational meeting will be held Tuesday at City Hall at 7 p.m. A public hearing is scheduled there June 28 at 6 p.m.

Source: Kimball Engineering Staff graphic: Molly Quinn