Eudora — A plan to charge Douglas County for septic waste loads brought to the Eudora wastewater treatment plant should appease several Eudora residents.
The Eudora City Council agreed Monday to charge the same dumping rates as the city of Lawrence during the trial period of taking test loads from septic tanks. The cost will be $54.96 per 1,000-gallon load that waste hauler, Darrell Higgins, owner of Higgins Septic Tank Service, brings to the plant under the county's direction.
Since the trial period was first discussed two weeks ago, city council member Tom Pyle and other members said they received several calls from people who were upset the city was accepting the waste, which is more concentrated than regular sewer flows, from unincorporated parts of the county.
"Some of us have taken a lot of heat from this deal," said council member Rex Burkhardt, who is concerned about the waste's effect on the plant.
In addition, Pyle said residents didn't know why the city wasn't charging the county.
County Administrator Craig Weinaug said there may have been a misunderstanding.
"There was never any intention for us to get a free ride," he said.
Eudora has agreed to allow the county to take loads to the city's wastewater treatment plant on a temporary basis.
City Supt. Bill Harlow said Higgins dumped the first three loads on Friday through Sunday, but the plant is not normally open on the weekends. Harlow said that at first he was a little confused about how the plan was supposed to work.
The council agreed that the hauler must get prior approval before dumping a load and each load must come with paperwork documenting the source of the waste.
"I feel better about it now. I can handle it," Harlow said after the council set the rules.
The initial loads did no harm, so Eudora's plant will continue to take single loads on two alternating days and progress to a situation in which a little more would be added in subsequent days for a few weeks.
If the plan works, Weinaug said, the county will use the treatment plants in Baldwin, Eudora and Lawrence on a rotating basis.
The dumping rates would be set according to Lawrence's fees, which will increase to $91.60 per load in September, and would be charged to the hauler.
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