Attorney lauds settlement over faulty sewage pumps.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission has agreed to settle a lawsuit it filed last year against two firms that designed and installed faulty sewage pumps at the commission's poplar tree plantation near the Eugene Airport.

The lawsuit centered on the commission officials' claim that a system designed to irrigate the trees with treated sewage sludge didn't work because pumps became clogged with so-called "stringy solids" that included hair, plastic and rubber-band fragments.

Under the settlement agreement, the two firms, Kansas-based Black & Veatch and James W. Fowler Co. of Portland, will pay the commission $325,000. The sum is much less than the $689,000 the commission had sought in a lawsuit filed last October in Lane County Circuit Court.

Dave Jewett, a Springfield attorney who represents the commission, said the settlement represents a satisfying conclusion to a case that would have been very expensive to try in court.

"The bottom line is that we've resolved it in a manner we think is favorable, taking into consideration all litigation risks," Jewett said. "It's a very good deal for the commission and the ratepayers."

The commission, a joint venture of Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, manages the metro area's waste-treatment system, including the sewage plant in north Eugene, and sludge-handling facilities near the Eugene Airport.

The commission hired Black & Veatch in 2002 to design a pump system that would distribute wastewater and sludge throughout the poplar tree farm east of Highway 99 near the airport.

Later, Fowler constructed an irrigation pump station at the plantation and installed three pumps there in 2004 that ultimately failed because they could not handle the passage of stringy solids found in the sludge.

The pumps were expected to take treated sludge, mix it with treated wastewater, and spread the blend among 42,000 poplars at the plantation. Proponents say it's a cheaper, cleaner way to dispose of sludge than trucking it to farms for spreading on cropland.

Jewett said the system is finally working as hoped, after replacement pumps were installed at the tree farm earlier this year.

Ultimately, the commission spent about $236,000 to make corrective work that included tearing out the faulty pumps and installing new ones that function correctly, Jewett said.

Settling the lawsuit "got the commission more than enough to pay the hard cost of making repairs," Jewett said. He explained that the commission filed its lawsuit seeking $689,000 before knowing that actual damages were far less than that.

Officials with Black & Veatch and Fowler were not available Friday afternoon. Each firm had blamed the other for the pump system's failure, Jewett said.