By Patrick Tepoorten

The Rush City Council will take a trip down memory lane at an upcoming public hearing, to help convince its citizenry to swallow drastic changes to the city's sanitary sewer policies.

On Oct. 4, 2005, Rush City was deluged with what engineers called a "2000-year" storm. It flooded streets, fields and residences and had emergency management teams working through the night handling the water. Much less evident that night was another flood, this one at the city's waste water treatment facility.

The facility took in over a million gallons of water that night, more than double its daily capacity at the time, and showed in stark terms just how much "clean" water was getting into the sanitary system.

According to SEH's Alva Rankin at a 2006 meeting, most of the instances of over-capacity at the facility had coincided with rain events.

It is believed that clean water infiltrates the sanitary system in two ways. "Inflow," whereby water is purposely introduced to the system via sump pumps, and gutter systems connected to the system, and "infiltration," which occurs when water enters the system through damaged sanitary sewer pipes.

On Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m., the city will conduct a public hearing on one of the first ways the city plans to deal with the issues of inflow and infiltration (I and I) - significant changes to its water and sewer ordinance, designed to reduce inflow.

Eleven paragraphs have been added to sewer system regulations, giving the city power to force corrections on properties with inflow issues, including the use of inspections and fines.

Inspections are mandatory according to the ordinance amendment, but City Administrator Amy Mell thinks the council will allow a period of time, six months to a year, for voluntary inspections. That period of time will also allow the city to insure no public properties are non-compliant. Rankin suggested to the council, at its Oct. 8 meeting, that it's crucial the city show it is dealing with its own I and I issues to soften the blow to residents.

Fines come into play for properties that demonstrate a fix to the city, but then return to discharging water into the sanitary sewer or do not allow the city to re-inspect the improvements annually. Those could be fined $100 per billing cycle until the problem is resolved permanently. Properties which continue to allow inflow after re-inspection could be subject to double fines. For all structures larger than single family fines could start at $500.

Point of sale amendments have been added as well, and properties that go up for sale will be subject to inspections and improvements contingent on the sale.

Residents will have a chance to comment on the amendment at the public hearing on Nov. 6, and the city plans to invite realtors and other construction and real estate representatives as well. The ultimate goal is to insure the waste water treatment facility remains compliant with state standards and maintains its capacity for years to come.

"We need to get the clean water out of the system," said Mayor Jim Ertz.