Longevity trumps cost in Trosky wastewater decision

Its not going to be cheap for Trosky to switch to a community wastewater system, but thats what the small city is doing to address the issue of failing private septic systems within municipal boundaries.

For the community stabilization pond and collection system chosen by the Trosky City Council, the cost will be $1,972,300, with another $25,747 projected for operating and maintenance costs annually.

Is the pond going to be the cheapest route? No, said Jeff Carstensen, Trosky mayor. But its the system thats going to last the longest.

The system was one of several alternatives compared in a Trosky Wastewater Facility Plan that Trosky hired Banner Associates out of Sioux Falls, S.D. to complete. Tanya Miller, Banner project engineer, attended the councils April meeting that held a City Hall full of local residents. During that meeting, questions were answered and information was given about the need for the project, the solution, and the financial implications, including the monthly sewer fees that come with a community system.

The residents did not express any sticker shock they know construction is expensive, Carstensen said.

Still.

How can 43 households in Trosky afford to pay $2 million? Carstensen said.

The community of 86 residents located nine miles southeast of Pipestone along U.S. Highway 75 is the last unsewered city in Pipestone County. Resident wastewater needs are met by individual septic systems. A Community Assessment Report (CAR) completed for the city in 2011 indicated that 89 percent, or 48 out of the 54 properties that had private systems, were noncompliant with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) regulations.

For the most part, the non-compliant properties either have straight-pipe discharge into a tributary of Poplar Creek or fail to protect the ground water.

Trosky today ranks number 33 on the MPCAs Clean Water Project Priority List of 331 unsewered communities in Minnesota requiring remediation due to the threat the citys wastewater methods pose to public health and adjacent surface and ground water.

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Longevity trumps cost in Trosky wastewater decision