Dresbach sewer plans derailed

Dresbach's hopes for a communal solution to its residents' sewage problems are in doubt after a 5-2 vote by the Winona County Planning Commission to recommend the denial of a conditional use permit (CUP) for a waste water treatment plant. The multimillion dollar sewer project has caused a political upheaval in Dresbach Township. Was the county's decision the one that Dresbach residents wanted?

Tucked between the Mississippi River and Interstate 90 with homes on tiny lots built long before modern regulations, many of the homes in the unincorporated cluster of riverside homes known as Dresbach have septic systems that do not meet state requirements. Fourteen have been labeled "imminent threats to public health" because of sewage reportedly seeping to the surface of residents' lawns or running down ditches. The owners of those systems and many other noncompliant septic systems have been under pressure from state and county regulators for years to install new systems that will not contaminate ground water or the Mississippi River. However, the tiny lots do not have room to have new septic systems installed.

"On some of these lots there isn't room to walk between the house and the neighbor's garage," explained Planning Commission member Richard Hunnewell.

Some do not have enough room to meet county setback requirements, and variances are commonly granted to allow them to be squeezed in. Others are too close to the property owner' wells or neighbors wells, and some Dresbach residents have been forced to drill new wells when they replaced their septic tanks. Some lots are too small for buried septic tanks and are forced to install above-ground mound systems. An average mound system costs $15,000 and last 30-40 years, according to Winona County Zoning Administrator Eric Johnson. Lots that are smaller yet must use holding tanks. Toilets, washing machines, and showers drain into the tank until it is full and the wastewater must be pumped and hauled away by truck at a cost of about $100. Tanks serving a three-person home typically need to be pumped every two weeks, according to Johnson. According to the Dresbach Township Sewer Committee, some lots are so small they cannot even accommodate holding tanks.

"When they built I-90, they left a little sliver of land right next to the highway, and they should have bought those houses," Town Board Chair Joan Solum said. "They have right-of-way that has more square footage than what they left there with people's houses. And then the rules change. You used to be able to have this much room for septic and then they cut it down and cut it down, and now they're all in violation and there's nothing they can do."

The neighboring city of Dakota has similar problems, and for years, Dresbach and Dakota have been studying and planning a potential sewer system that would serve the two communities. Dakota scrapped its plans to be part of the sewer project and withdrew from the process. Now Dresbach is pursuing the sewer plant alone, increasing the cost of the project per property.

Just how expensive would it be? Solum stated that there were no definite cost estimates. However, SEH Engineering submitted an proposal estimating the sewer plant would cost $2.4 million and would incur ongoing operational costs of $28,000 per year. If the township receives a 50 percent grant from the state, the project would cost the average home $118 per month or $1,416 per year, SEH reported. County Board Chair Marcia Ward, who served on the Planning Commission as a substitute for commissioner Steve Jacob at last week's meeting, claimed she had heard much higher cost estimates. "I'd seriously have to look the number up," Mike Davy of Davy Engineering told Ward. "Oh, come now," Ward responded. She asserted that it was approximately a $4 million project. Davy did not refute her.

Davy helped prepare designs for the sewer plant, which the township wanted to locate in a gravel parking lot on Riverview Drive. The lot is surrounded by houses and currently provides overflow parking for a nearby park and boat launch. The sewer plant would consist mostly of buried tanks with hatches for each tank above ground and a small concrete control building. Once a month, sludge from the plant would need to be hauled to Winona or La Crosse for disposal.

Sewer committee member Stephanie Swartz explained that the township had considered piping their sewage all the way to La Crosse, but that was too expensive. They considered piping it to La Crescent, but La Crescent insisted on annexing the township, she said. The township considered other sites, but the one promising property, a gas station, was rejected as an option because of the cost: around $490,000.

"After years of study, literally years of study, they determined this is the only site they have available for a wastewater treatment plant," Davy said. "It is not the first choice. No engineer would pick a small site in the middle of town that's small and try to build a wastewater treatment plant there as their first choice."

Excerpt from:
Dresbach sewer plans derailed