Scarville to get wastewater system for town

“While the past three years have seemed like a non-stop battle, we are finally celebrating the construction of our new septic system project,” said Scarville Mayor Doug Harmon. Asking Harmon what brought this project to the forefront, he replied, “The DNR told us that we can’t flush our toilet in the drainage ditch anymore.”
As of the present time, the households, businesses and residences each have their own septic tank, and to his knowledge, no one has had their septic tanks maintained. He said that ideally, everyone should have had their septic tanks pumped every three to five years. He said some have about a 55 gallon drum, and often there are things that shouldn’t go down the drain, like fats, grease, kitty litter, and food scraps.  
 “Well, at some point it all ends up going into a tile system that outlets at the drainage ditch (at the south end of town by the railroad tracks) which then flows into the Winnebago River. That’s the issue. When people first put in septic tanks, probably more than 30 years ago for most homes, nobody planned to have them pumped out. Everybody thinks they’re working, because they’re not backing up.”  
Harmon tried to describe what has taken nearly three years to get started. “Once we got through all the hoops, for the financing and the grant, then from that there was some engineering stuff that held us up and finally, we got to bid last August. That’s when we hired Rognes Brothers Excavating.” Rognes Brothers Excavating, Lake Mills, came in with the lowest bid.  
One issue that took a lot of time, was going through the process of doing an income survey of the residents in town, which actually was a positive in the long run, said Harmon.
“I wanted to be at the point we are at now, two years ago. That’s how long it’s taken us to get  here. Part of it was good in the fact that we did a survey. When we started this, we were only going to get about a $250,000 grant, but because we did a survey, we got a $575,000 grant. The survey took time and bumped us back, but it was worth the effort. The funding is all taken care of; $575,000 is the federal grant, and the balance is loaned to us on bond through the USDA.”
The system that is being set up now, will work with new septic tanks that have two compartments—the solids will collect on the one side and liquid on the other. So, every four to six years, depending on how heavily they’re used, the solids will be pumped out, so the only thing that is getting treated in Scarville is the effluent water—the water flowing out of the individual tanks.” (There will be 46 households on this system.) That water will get pumped to the drainage field, which is on the northeast end of town—121 Main St.
“Everybody gets a new septic tank, and everybody gets a pump in their tank. It all gets pumped over there. There are five tanks and it will be a constant pressure system—always constant pressure on the lines. I’m assuming there’s a float, don’t know for sure. Then every hour/two hours (of course, depending on the use) it will flush the entire field. Only a certain amount of gallons will be able to flush at a time. That’s why there are five tanks for the whole treatment. It won’t be used much at night, but it is going to periodically flush. It’s done that way by design so it won’t freeze, and that the system works effectively for a long period of time.”
Unless, as Harmon stressed, if the households are irresponsible users and flush things they shouldn’t, that will shorten the life of the drainage field. Then that will fill the solid side of the new tanks up quickly.
The drainage field will look like a lawn, only with a few manholes, and there will be no odor coming from it. There won’t be a maintenance building, but there will be maintenance done such as daily meter readings, and monthly, quarterly and yearly responsibilities needing to be done for the DNR. Then there will be a filter that needs to be cleaned in everybody’s septic system. Septic tanks will all be on an individual basis. (As Harmon described them, they will be a Chevrolet model, not a Cadillac model.)
 To be in compliance, the present septic tanks need to be opened up, pumped and filled back in with dirt. “Everybody needs to have this done now, because if you sell your property down the road, it has to be done. You can’t have an old abandoned septic on the system that has not been properly cleaned and filled back in.”
Because deadlines have been broken in the past, Harmon said the only mark on the timeline is the completion date—Aug. 31, 2017.
“Every time I think we’re somewhere, then something else flares up. First it was engineering, then it was USDA. Then it was back to engineering, then back to the DNR. It’s been one thing after another, and then we were ready to close and then the soil samples came back different. Then we had to redesign the drainage field, then it had to be reapproved. It took the DNR an extra six months to approve it.”
“We began digging the beginning of May,” said Jeremy Rognes, vice president and project manager, Rognes Brothers, “We put in five dosing tanks and are digging five leech fields. (As of Friday, May 23) Jeremy Rognes said they are dealing with a design issue that needs yet to be remedied. “We’re finishing up the leech fields now, so mid-to-late June we should be finished installing the pumps and tanks. Haugen, (Haugen Contracting, Forest City) who we’ve sublet work to, is going to start installing the collection system next week. That will be the piping that runs along the streets for us to hook the individual houses up to. We’re going to basically get the skeleton of the system in starting next week.” Rognes Brothers is shooting to begin installing the individual septic tanks in mid to late June. Rognes said, that if they don’t have to take out the old septic tank, they won’t. “The USDA does not require them to be abandoned under this contract. We still have to put a new one in, but we won’t abandon the old one, unless it’s in conflict with the installation of the new one. I don’t anticipate getting more than one or two tanks done a day. While it is being installed there shouldn’t be lack of service to a household for no more than half a day.”