Septic issues concern Rosebud landowners

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Several landowners in Rosebud are concerned about the septic system pipelines in low-lying properties.
Landowner C. Eliuk wrote a letter to Wheatland County council to address strains on their home septic systems and their trials going through septic pumps at an alarming rate. Eliuk stated that homeowners in other areas don’t have this problem because they are at higher elevation. He asked if a lift station could be put in, or whether the county would cost share the purchase of an adequate pump.
Eliuk had previously asked the county for help, but only got a suggestion from county engineers for a type of pump he could buy to deal with the issues.
“It shouldn’t be on my shoulders to push everything up the hill,” said Eliuk.
Eliuk priced the pump at $9,000, but even engineers agreed that it might be inadequate to solve the problem. He stated that he cannot afford the pump and other pumps wear out quickly. He said residents in the low-lying area are continually replacing pumps.
“When we were first made aware of this, we did do some analysis with our engineers, a high level review to what was needed there,” said Mike Ziehr, Wheatland County transportation and agriculture manager. “Basically, we could suggest a pump that would take care of the situation.”
Ziehr said Rosebud has unique system problems. He said locations do affect the ease of pumping effluent out of tanks, but added on the whole, the current system is operating quite well. He estimated the cost to fix Eliuk’s problem would be about $15,000 to $30,000 if the county chose to change the current line configuration or put in a lift station.
Ziehr said there had been requests from landowners to rectify other problems in various areas of the county, but wished direction from council on this matter. Ziehr read an exception clause in the services bylaw that said if a landowner wants something extra done, they can pay for the improvement, but ownership for the improvement stays with the county.
“We put this clause in the bylaw because we do have a lot of properties in the county (and) in hamlets that are not serviced or poorly serviced,” said Ziehr. “We put that in there against the one-offs, to protect against that, so technically it protects council from money that they will never recover.”
Councillor Glenn Koester gave a historical perspective of the services in Rosebud and Eliuk’s property.
“That this was allowed 25 years ago … that should never have happened,” said Councillor Tom Ikert. “Every system should be that it gets off your property and then it is the municipal (problem). If there is development down the road, people won’t put up with buying a pump to get stuff off their property. People just don’t do that nowadays.”
Ikert questioned why, with the county investing in a $3.2 million wastewater system for Rosebud, that community has to rely on pumping out septic tanks.
Deputy Reeve Scott Klassen stated he would like the entire system for Rosebud to be reviewed at the time of the implementation of the sewage lagoon and lift stations. He wanted to know that it will service development in the future.
“We need to fix this and do it the right way,” said Klassen.
Council agreed to discuss the issue at their planning and priorities meeting, and staff will contact Eliuk with their decision.