RCAC Home Page >

Sumpter receives loan critical for town’s wastewater system

WASTEWATER AND LOAN FUND NEWS

By Cyndy Elliott, RCAC rural development specialist, loan officer and Victoire S. Chochezi, RCAC PR communications coordinator

For the city of Sumpter, buying 111 acres of land was a major purchase, a huge ordeal and in the end, a reason to celebrate.

Sumpter, a small rural Oregon municipality, uses a step system for the disposal of the community’s wastewater. Homes and businesses have individual septic tanks installed and owned by the city, which are connected to a municipal wastewater collection system that transports wastewater effluent to a single lagoon southeast of town. During the winter months, the wastewater is stored in the lagoon, and during the summer months the effluent is irrigated on adjacent forested hills. If effluent was not disposed of during the summer months, the lagoon would overflow and contaminate the Powder River. The city of Sumpter owns the land where the lagoon is located, however since 1988, Sumpter has leased the adjacent property from a private land owner and used it for disposing the wastewater effluent.

When the lease expired, the property owners refused to renew the lease and put the property (111 acres in three parcels) up for sale. The city of Sumpter had no other options for wastewater disposal and therefore, needed to purchase the property immediately.

“I met with a committee and we explored all the options, including deep well injections. We really had no alternatives,” said Sumpter Mayor Darrell Hale.

Although the city needed only 25 to 35 acres for the land application, the land owners refused to sell the individual parcels, forcing the city to purchase the full 111 acres.

Sumpter’s Recycled Water Use Permit expired December 31, 2009. The city needed to obtain a permit by May 2010 to dispose of the effluent that collected over the winter months. Otherwise, the city would have to pay to have its effluent trucked off-site or risk serious environmental disaster. To obtain the permit, it was necessary for the city to show evidence (either through a lease or ownership) that it had control of, and access to the property it would use for the land application. The city went to a local bank for financing, but was turned down because the sale price exceeded the appraised value of the land. Because the city needed to purchase the land quickly and security value was an issue for conventional financing, conventional loan options were not feasible. Fortunately, RCAC was able to assist by lending the city the $200,000 it needed to purchase the land.

“Our lagoon holds only so much, so it was great that we received the loan before we had an environmental spill,” said Hale. “Now it is ours. We are disbursing now. We have some improvements that we still need to do, which are required by the Department of Environmental Quality. We have to fence the area, put up signs and increase the pump size,” he said.

At least the critical issues have been resolved.

Sumpter continues to pursue government loans and grants. Part of the land purchased holds the remains of a historic gold smelter and the city is hoping to obtain a grant to preserve the historic landmark. Applying and closing for these types of funding is a slow process, but luckily, the crunch time pressure has been relieved. In addition to these funding sources, the city intends to sell one or both of the two small parcels not needed for water irrigation.

Hale does not seem worried about selling property next to a wastewater system. “We only discharge the stored grey water from May 1 through Oct. 31 and then, only enough for the grass and trees to absorb; it’s not a stinky mess. We have a 100 foot buffer around it, so it’s not right next door. There are advantages. The pieces of property will have city water and electricity and are within city limits, and there’s a ridge between the other parcels and the discharge. Our engineer said that our water quality from incoming and outgoing effluent is better quality than some sewer plants that treat their water and discharge it to the river and it’s all timber land.” While it is beautiful land, Hale pointed out, “You wouldn’t want to go frolicking in it.”

The 100 foot buffer, the ridges and the pending fences and warning signs will ensure you do n’ot go “frolicking” there by mistake.

If Sumpter is awarded loans and/or grants or sells a parcel(s), it will pay down the RCAC loan with the proceeds.   

For more on the rural Oregon town of Sumpter, see the related article, “Sumpter offers rich history and attractive culture.”

Back to Network News ...

Back to Top

View a complete list of RCAC Rural Stories…