Manhattan and Riley County officials at a joint meeting Thursday agreed to draft an interlocal agreement to service the new Keats Sewer District.
County and city staff will now work out service details and price points to connect the planned sanitary sewer system in Keats to Manhattan’s treatment facility before returning to the bodies for final approval.
The project is anticipated to be financed with forgiveable federal grants for up to 45 percent of the project as well as 40-year loans to be divided and charged to benefiting property owners. Exact cost estimates are pending.
“I think this is the right thing to do and I really appreciate all the work everybody’s been putting into it,” says Manhattan Mayor Usha Reddi.
Riley County approved the formation of a sewer benefit district for Keats in October 2019 following a resident petition that drew more than 51 percent support of owners of the 66 homes in the district. Multiple residents were experiencing failing lateral fields, or septic drain fields.
An evaluation by Manhattan-based BG Consultants — who are in the process of a preliminary engineering report — approved by the county this past January found additionally that many septic systems in Keats were not up to current codes. In the event of a disaster damaging buildings, that fact along with failed systems could make acquiring permits for immediate repairs difficult.
City and county commissioners were presented with three options using gravity collection to ship waste from Keats. Presented by BG Consultants’ Sam Johnson, two of the options involved land acquisition and creating new waste treatment lagoons — though possible locations would fall within denoted floodplains and risk groundwater contamination.
The third option, preferred by USDA, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment as well as county and city staff and elected officials, uses gravity collection to ship the waste to Manhattan’s plant. City Manager Ron Fehr says the option is the most environmentally-friendly as well.
“Connection to City of Manhattan seemed most viable,” says Johnson. “KDHE and USDA both support the idea of regionalization, so if two entities can work together they would prefer that rather than permitting a new facility.”
Manhattan Public Works Director Rob Ott says during peak flow times in wet weather conditions and assuming all future development in the area occurs — the flow rate should only top the recommended 75 percent pipe capacity by 3 points in those “worst case scenarios.”
We know that we have future projects, future growth in the City of Manhattan that will contribute into this line,” says Ott. “It’s those unplanned, un-zoned, un-annexed areas in which we’ll just have to take it case-by-case and make sure we control what goes in there.”
Ott and County Public Works Director Leon Hobson do note there could be some issues with odor and corrosion due to the length of the force main needed for the project. Ott and Johnson, though, say there are techniques and products out there that can be employed for mitigation. Those will be explored during the design process.
After hearing confidence the system could withstand it from Ott, commissioners were supportive of connecting the new sewer system to Manhattan’s instead of constructing a new facility. Exact cost details are still being negotiated, but the typical service rate for out-of-city customers is 200 percent the in-city rate.
Multiple city commissioners, including Linda Morse, wanted to ensure the project would not promote increased development in the area for multiple reasons. Part of the concern is that Keats falls within the Fort Riley noise advisory area identified by the joint land use study [JLUS]. The study identified areas that should expect noise impact from training on post. The goal was to avoid promoting development in those areas to avoid creating conflicts between the base and residents.
“I want to maintain the trust and the integrity we have with Fort Riley and the JLUS and the military to try to respect that,” says Morse.
Manhattan Mayor Pro Tem Wynn Butler agrees, saying the provisions of the agreement should be with the intent that the hook-ups are for the properties currently existing.
“We don’t want it now to become attractive because you got sewer, so somebody takes a lot and puts a 12-plex on it,” says Butler. “Now we got 12 sewer hook-ups, not one on the lot.”
County Commissioner Ron Wells says the planning only accounts for one connection per lot, taking care of that concern.
“One particular property had a vacant lot and they had to sign off and have it set to where it could never be built on because there will only be one sewer connection,” says Wells. “And I notice in my reading that from Keats to Manhattan there can’t be any connection.”
Manhattan and Riley County have teamed up for projects using USDA funding similar to this in the past, most recently at Fairmont Heights.
Originally posted at https://1350kman.com/keats-sewer-district-to-have-waste-treated-at-manhattan-plant/
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