PORT ANGELES — Owners of homes with downspouts connected to the sewer system may soon have access through the city to information on how they can disconnect to help reduce their contributions to sewer overflows.
The City Council on Tuesday directed staff to provide further information on its Web site this year and budget for a more aggressive outreach program in 2011.
The move was recommended by City Council member Max Mania, who said he was surprised that a roof drain disconnect pilot study in 2004 didn’t result in any action.
The study occurred when the city was trying to determine how it could come into compliance with a mandate from the state Department of Ecology to have no more than four rainstorm-related overflows a year by 2015.
The city concluded that expanding the disconnect study citywide would cost between $35 million and $50 million and only reduce sewer overflows by 10 percent to 15 percent.
Overflows occur when storm water floods the city’s sewer system and causes the untreated effluent to flow into Port Angeles Harbor.
Instead, the city chose to use a large tank on Rayonier’s former pulp mill site to store untreated storm and sewer water until it can be directed to the city’s waste water treatment plant nearby.
The effort will cost about $42 million.
The city has a deadline of 2015 to comply with the state mandate and intends to acquire the 5-million-gallon tank through the Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority.
“I’m not trying to present something instead of the tank or even necessary to address our CSO [combined sewer overflow] issues,” Mania said.
“I would just like to see us take a proactive stance on stormwater issues, proactively addressing them but also proactively engaging the community.”
The rest of the council agreed that some sort of educational effort should be implemented.
But it may take a further study to determine who has downspouts connected to the sewer system.
Mania also recommended that the city look into subsidizing rain barrels for residents as a way to collect storm water and keep it out of the sewer system.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
