SIBLEY – Since the devastating floods in June, water management in northwest Iowa continues to be a topic of discussion.
Dan Berkland of the Sibley Veterinary Clinic spoke to the Sibley City Council on behalf of the Northwest Iowa Sanitary Group during the council meeting on Monday, September 9, to discuss the possibility of changing the billing for use of the city's sewer system.
The plumbing group consists of six member companies on the northwest edge of Sibley.
“We created our own sanitation district to dispose of our garbage, use the city’s sewers and install our own private pumping station,” Berkland said.
The reason for the request was water intrusion and a rise in the water level above the once-in-a-century flood level in June, which led to an unusually high sewage bill.
“We were just wondering if we could consider the sewer fees that Sibley is charged based on its water usage,” Berkland said.
Most members of the sanitation group get their water from Osceola County Rural Water and could use these totals to determine their water intake and thus obtain more accurate usage figures.
“We sampled their pumping station,” said Cory Dykstra, Sibley's utilities director. “Basically, we know how many gallons per minute each of those pumps is pumping, and we plug that into an equation to figure out the gallons per minute and come up with our bill. I don't think their request is unreasonable.”
Dykstra added that while the city does not need any more water flow through the system, the organization has paid for maintenance of its system, built in 2022, until that point.
“It's not that they aren't doing their part to keep us from flooding – they certainly are,” Dykstra said.
The group will work with a contractor and the companies with their own septic tanks to remove them and transfer them to the city's sewer system.
“We are happy to provide you with what we have to offer because that is how we bill each of our members,” Berkland said.
Councilman Larry Pedley asked if it wouldn't be better in the long run to simply be incorporated into the city.
“When we built the clinic there, we asked the city to give us the connection, but they refused, saying it wasn't worth their time,” Berkland said.
City Manager Susan Sembach noted that if all six facilities in the sanitation group agree to voluntary integration, the city could install sewer and municipal water as part of a long-term plan.
“The system is not designed to handle much more, but the infrastructure is in place to improve it,” Dykstra said.
The Council approved a request to bill the City of Sibley's Northwest Iowa Sanitary Group for sewerage fees based on water usage data submitted by the organization.
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