Sewage farm growing troubles.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

A poplar tree plantation grown to absorb treated sewage from the Eugene-Springfield area has had a rocky start.

The $7.7 million development near the Eugene Airport is beset with faulty pumps at treatment lagoons and the loss of almost a third of the trees planted last year.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, which manages the metro area's waste treatment system, is considering legal action against the Portland consultant and contractor responsible for the defective pumps.

The pumps are supposed to take treated organic matter called biosolids out of the lagoons, mix it with treated wastewater and spread it among the poplars. But they never worked properly and must be replaced, said Susie Smith, general manager of the treatment system.

The three pumps, which cost $50,000, were installed last year. The replacement cost for the equipment is estimated at $75,000, and additional design and installation work could push total costs to more than $300,000.

The agency also is coping with high mortality of poplar trees at the farm. Almost a third of the 42,000 trees have died, and the commission will spend $48,000 on replanting this year.

"It's not a happy outcome, but it could have been worse," said Anne Ballew, president of the commission and a Springfield city councilor. "I think we've learned some things. It's sort of like baseball: Wait till next year."

Despite the setbacks, officials say the project is on track and will become an integral piece of a system serving about 220,000 residents.

Located east of Highway 99 and north of Awbrey Lane, the biocycle farm promises a cheaper, cleaner way to dispose of treated wastewater and biosolids. The fast-growing poplars will soak up the water and nutrient-rich solids, providing a better disposal option.

The operation will take pressure off the aging biosolid lagoons, which need to be drained and relined, Smith said.

"That's part of why we need to keep the biocycle farm on schedule," she said. "The lagoons have lived their 20-year life span, and we are experiencing some leaching through them."

The new pumps, which sputtered to a halt during last year's irrigation season, aren't likely to be replaced before irrigation is set to resume this May, Smith said.

"We are moving forward expeditiously," she said. "I think our perspective is that May would be overly optimistic."

The pump station's design firm acknowledges that the pumps haven't worked properly but does not necessarily agree that they need to be replaced.

"We are interested to work with them to make sure that's an operable system out there," said Wayne Gresh, project manager in the Portland office of engineering giant Black and Veatch. "The solutions out there are not that complicated."

Gresh said he's also working with the project contractor, James W. Fowler of Portland, who did not return a call for comment.

In the meantime, commissioners have approved taking legal action against the companies, if necessary, to recover damages for the inoperable pump station.

The tree loss, unrelated to the pump problems, wasn't entirely unexpected. Several hybrid varieties were planted to test which would grow best in a variety of soil conditions at the farm, Smith said.

As the first phase of a three-stage, six-year planting schedule, poplars were planted on 156 acres. In all, about 50 acres of trees died. Summer heat and poor soil quality may have been the main culprits, Smith said.

"If we did not have such a severe drought and heat wave last summer, I think we would be doing better than we are," she said. "We certainly didn't expect each of the hybrids would perform the same way, and some of the trees are thriving out there."

The agency estimated that replanting the lost crop would cost about $115,000, but Grant's Landscaping Service of Eugene came in with the low bid of $48,000.

Commission officials tout the biocycle farm as a perfect solution for handling growing volumes of waste while complying with increasingly stringent environmental rules for discharging treated water and biosolids.

"Poplar trees are a good way to spread around this biological waste material," Ballew said. "It's also a renewable asset that we should be able to market and help offset costs to the entire community."

Once the trees are big enough, they will be harvested and sold for wood products - a new revenue stream for the agency, funded mostly by user fees tacked onto monthly utility bills.

The treatment plant receives an average of 37 million gallons of wastewater each day. It is operated by the city of Eugene, while Springfield administers the treatment system.

Most effluent is discharged into the Willamette River after about 95 percent of the pollutants are removed. The flow also warms the river water, which can be a problem in the summer when the river level drops. Fish and aquatic wildlife thrive in colder water.

When the 420-acre biocycle farm is fully developed by 2008, it's expected to absorb 2 million to 3 million gallons of effluent a day - about 10 percent of the total discharge from the sewage treatment plant.

The farm also will save money on biosolid disposal. The agency has spread the fertilizer on area grass seed fields at no cost for more than 20 years. While that service will continue, pumping the biosolids directly to the poplars is far less costly, officials said.

The farm's total cost has risen about 26 percent over its original $6.1 million price tag. That's due in part to $500,000 in added features and the expected pump station modifications.