Sewer connection plan makes sense

On Monday, members of the Stetsonville Village Board made the right call when they approved moving forward on a plan to build a force main to pump sewage from the village to Medford to be treated.

Under the plan, the village will continue to own and maintain its own sewer collection system and handle billing of customers, as it has done in the past, but instead of running its own treatment plant, will pay the Medford sewer utility to treat the waste.

What will change is the village will get out from under the thumb of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with its ever-increasing regulations on what chemicals must be removed from the waste water before it is discharged.

Stetsonville is in what is considered the headwaters of the Big Eau Pleine River. Water from this area, and the potential contaminates that are carried in it, make their way to the Eau Pleine, then the Wisconsin River and ultimately into the Mississippi River.

In general, the closer to the headwaters of a river system you are, the more stringent the rules are for treatment plants when it comes to removing contaminants. This makes sense if the goal is to have cleaner water downstream. The lagoon systems in place in most small rural communities are not up to the task of meeting these more stringent requirements.

When it comes to sewer treatment plants, there is a very real economy of scale, especially when you factor in ongoing personnel and monitoring costs. The village of Stetsonville could invest in its own plant upgrades. As the engineers with Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH) noted at Monday’s public hearing, this option is prohibitively expensive for a community the size of Stetsonville.

Medford’s treatment facility has more than enough excess capacity to handle the waste from Stetsonville without requiring plant changes or adding personnel. The deal becomes sweeter with additional state funding available to encourage regionalization efforts.

For the cost of less than five miles of pressure mains and a lift station, the village of Stetsonville will be rid of the headache of having to comply with whatever new regulations are dreamed up in Madison. They also have the assurance that the city will charge the village the same rate that it charges any other sewer customer. Medford City Coordinator Joe Harris explained they intend to put this into writing in a formal contract for a 20-year agreement. This will provide stability for years to come for residents and businesses in Stetsonville. As Medford waste water superintendent Alex Zenner noted, the city does not have plans to raise its rates anytime soon.

The move is also a benefit to the city utility customers due to moving toward more fully optimizing the city’s treatment plant capacity. By being a good neighbor, the city will continue to have room for growth in its treatment plant and gain additional revenue to help with plant expenses.

The regional sewer plan is a good move.