Planning for the Future

There are many changes underway in Eagle. Rapid growth, increasing regulatory changes, and a desire to have direct control over our future, have motivated the Eagle Sewer District to undertake a wastewater facility planning effort. For this reason, the Eagle Sewer District has retained the engineering firm MWH to prepare a Wastewater Facility Plan.

Eagle Sewer District currently treats wastewater in lagoons and then pumps the treated effluent to the City of Boise's West Boise Wastewater Treatment Facility for further treatment and discharge to the Boise River. For this treatment, the Eagle Sewer District now purchases capacity in the West Boise Wastewater Treatment Facility and pays monthly charges that are based on the amount of flow, organic load, solids load and ammonia load. In the future, additional charges to remove phosphorus are expected.

As part of the Wastewater Facility Plan, the Eagle Sewer District is considering the construction of a new state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant, which could discharge high quality water to the Boise River. This water would be of higher quality than any current discharge to the Boise River and would enhance overall water quality. The potential opportunity to reuse the treated water is also being considered.

Pond Re-Lining Project
On May 3rd 2007, during a routine daily inspection of the Eagle Wastewater Treatment Plant, a tear in the liner of the #1 lagoon was found. Further inspection noted a three foot vertical tear in the HDPE liner material extending to within an inch of the waterline. Plant operators immediately lowered the level of the lagoon and later the tear was temporarily repaired with a very large patch, along with other areas that showed signs of deterioration.

On May 30th the Eagle Sewer District Board of Directors held a special meeting where the District's General Manager Lynn Moser and the District's consulting engineer Cyndy Bratz with MWH informed the Board of the serious nature of the liner tear, the Eagle Sewer District Board of Directors declared an Emergency.

The first course of action was to replace the HDPE liner material in both lagoons. Before any work could begin the flow of sewage the plant treated every day, over one and a half million gallons, had to be by-passed pumped around the plant. The District hired JC Constructors, Inc. of Meridian, ID to initiate the by-pass by installing valves in main effluent line to be connected to large pumps rented from, installed and operated by Rain-for-Rent of Nampa, ID. JC Constructors was also retained to do all excavation and other related tasks involved in this undertaking, their services proved invaluable. The by-pass pumps to-date have performed flawlessly.

The District hired Parker Agriculture of Limon Colorado to remove 24 years worth of accumulated biosolids. Parker provided a dedicated professional crew, who with belt-presses and a centrifuge, aided by a wide array of pumps, hoses, and other equipment, removed 1400 dry tons of material which they hauled to the local landfill to be used as cover.

When the lagoons were emptied and cleaned, no small task, it was time for Great Basin Enviromental from Umatilla, Oregon to install a geotextile fabric over the old liner, and then a new 80 mil HDPE liner on top of that. This large and complex activity was overseen, documented, tested, and inspected by Dudek Inc., a Texas firm, to ensure overall quality and integrity. Both firms provided experienced, quality oriented crews, who completed the job despite cold temperatures and inclement weather.

The liner replacement was completed on Dec. 6th 2007. After the required hydraulic testing was completed, both lagoons were put back on-line.