Lake Holcombe Town Board; Waste plant in desperate need of sampling modification

Kay Curtin, with Rural Water, warned the Lake Holcombe Town Board Jan. 12, that there is an issue with sampling in the sanitary district, which could cause problems down the road. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

Only a small portion of the Town of Lake Holcombe has access to using the Sanitary District, but it could have implications for all the taxpayers, if something isn’t done to correct what may be an oversight in sampling.

During a regular town board meeting Jan. 12, Kay Curtin, wastewater specialist with Wisconsin Rural Water Association, was there to discuss what she feels needs to be done to protect the township.

“I’m just going to tell you what’s coming down the pipe,” she said. “The DNR has imposed very strict phosphorus limits…because the lakes are starting to get green…they want to prevent that.”

According to Curtin, the DNR has already questioned her about why Holcombe’s phosphorus limits are so low, based on their septage intake.

“It’s kind of come to my attention that you take a lot of septage,” said Curtin.

Since Holcombe’s plant is built to only treat the human waste in the sanitary district, it is a concern, because holding tank waste that is brought in from haulers, is more concentrated, with higher levels of phosphorus.

“I’d like to know if you’re over your design limit,” said Curtin. “It’s a good public service to accept septage, but...” Wisconsin statutes say waste treatment plants are not required to accept septage from haulers, if it’s causing the plant to exceed its allowable load capacity. However, Curtin doesn’t know what Holcombe’s capacity is, so she wants to see increased testing for phosphorus and for the plant operators to be aware of where the largest limits are coming from.

“The testing methods you have now, aren’t really showing that,” she said, adding she hopes to prevent the town from needing to add chemicals that could be dangerous and would make more sludge than ever.

Curtin was also concerned that the rates for haulers are too low, for Holcombe, when looking at other towns, which could encourage haulers from farther out to bring in their loads.

Sandy Begalke, local hauler, says their company keeps stringent records of when someone last had their holding tanks pumped and have “red flag” properties, which helps limit too much concentrated sludge.

“You have the right to limit your choice of who’s in there or not,” said Begalke.

Town board chairman Brian Guthman said that while most of the Lake Holcombe Township is not in the sanitary district, it will fall on everyone if penalties are handed down because of improper testing or loads accepted.

“We are going to end up paying that, because it falls back on the town,” he said.

Guthman also said it’s hard to get rid of the broken down sludge, because they can’t find a field to apply it to, without say-so of the farmer who owns it and proper conditions/limits imposed.

“It’s a hardship for all of us,” agreed Ken Begalke. Duane Schulze, plant operator, said he has priced a professional sampling machine, which will run the district $3,000, so he asked if he can do it on his own. Curtin said yes and advised Schulze to buy two carboys, to shake them up and take samples from that.

If not, it could get sticky down the road, as she doesn’t know for sure what the intake and outtake affluent levels are.

“It has to change, now,” said Curtin. “We have to make some adaptments, so we really know how that plant is running.”

As far as operating goes, Guthman says the town is looking into getting a generator for that area of the county, after the state has had some wet, heavy snow, that brought down trees and power lines. If that occurs again, Guthman is concerned people could get very cold without electricity.

“There were people up near Bruce, without power for five days,” he said.

Supervisor Doug Olson asked if they could use federal grant money they received for that purchase. Guthman said yes and that he hopes to find a matching grant to offset the cost.

“Most of those are pretty spendy,” said Guthman. “Does the sanitation district still have theirs?” asked resident Cliff Begalke.

Schulze said they do, but he’s not sure if it’s big enough, as it’s an older model. After discussing it with C. Begalke, Schulze said it might work well enough for what Guthman intends it for.

“It should be enough to keep the lights and heat on,” said Guthman, who said the hall could be opened for the public as a place to come keep warm.

Guthman also reported that the county is asking for aid back to the townships, for their clean-up efforts from those snow events. To possibly qualify for the funds, the town must look at the number of man hours and machines used.

“We did have guys working Saturday and Sunday,” said Guthman.

The clean-up isn’t done by a long-shot, as they had to push some of the trees off the road until spring, so the hours the town put in, are just the tip of the iceberg for expenses.

Speaking of snow, Guthman said they are still having problems with residents pushing snow across the road from their properties. When the snow is plowed across the road, it many times leaves bumps and ridges, which is hard on town/county plow equipment and dangerous if someone hits it wrong in their vehicle.

“It is in the state statutes that you’re not supposed to do that,” said Guthman.

Guthman also said that UTV/ATV clubs are trying to open more roads in the county, so there should be more movement on that. Holcombe is already a step ahead, as they recently updated their ordinance to mirror the same hours of UTV/ ATV operation as the county – a half hour after sunrise, until a half hour before sunset.

“So, we changed ours, to meet that requirement,” said Guthman.

He also said that while the new Dollar General isn’t in construction yet, they have certified maps into the Wis-DOT.