Roughly 42% of the wastewater that is processed by the La Conner sewer plant is groundwater. This is called I&I (inflow and infiltration). There is a 95% correlation between rainfall and I&I, meaning that we have a pretty leaky sewer system. Whether it is the sewer mains or the side sewers that service each residence, the system is leaking.

The sewer system is 46 years old. It has a right to be leaky. The question is what are we doing about it.

For 2020 the Town Council appropriated $50,000 for rehabilitation of the collection system. Not a penny was spent. Thus far in 2021 $50,000 is budgeted again for rehabilitation. Not a penny has been spent.

Why won’t the plant manager and the town administrator invest in rehabilitation? They say it is because the state Department of Ecology is planning to impose new rules on nutrients in the outflow that will cost big money. It is a management decision to put off work on I&I until we know how much we will have to borrow.

The sewer account has a cash balance of over $733,000. The management decision is wrong. We should consider this as a normal operating expense and get on with rehabilitation.

Please note that sewer rehabilitation is a separate operation from sewer cleaning, which was done last week.

Sincerely,

Dan O’Donnell

La Conner