Friday Harbor Stuck With Smelly Problem

FRIDAY HARBOR, San Juan County - From the hill on Celie and Yates Lansing's sprawling property, a commanding view of the San Juan Valley unfolds. Trees dot grassy fields sprinkled with yellow daisies, and swallows dart in the wetlands below.

Just a few feet from it all, partly hidden by a cluster of trees, lies a sludge lagoon.

Today the brisk wind brings only the scent of wildflowers and fresh-cut hay, but the Lansings say such days were rare only a few months ago, when the pond was full of lime-treated sludge.

"If you stand in an outhouse for awhile, you can understand the smell," Yates Lansing said.

The pond and its owner, Kif Brown, owner-operator of San Juan Organics, are at the center of a much larger debate over how to dispose of waste from sewers and septic tanks on the San Juan Islands. Nowhere is the problem more critical than in San Juan Island's Friday Harbor, center of commerce and government for the surrounding island communities.

Every summer, thousands of tourists flock to the town of 1,500 to shop, watch whales or enjoy the annual jazz festival. Last weekend, the county fair brought in residents from surrounding islands, who also regularly visit for business. Although Friday Harbor remains small, island communities in the county have grown, putting a severe strain on Friday Harbor's resources, residents and town officials say.

Nowhere is the problem more obvious than at the town's sewage-treatment facility.

While the plant rarely operates at capacity in winter, the summer population pushes the operation beyond its limit to process and store. Under strict federal laws regulating waste treatment, Friday Harbor may be liable for thousands of dollars in fines unless it finds a way to expand and improve its treatment facilities.

Agricultural use of sludge

When Kif Brown opened San Juan Organics two years ago, a solution seemed at hand. Brown offered to take some of the town's excess sludge, treat it and spread it over his property for agricultural use.

He applied for the necessary permits, and the town council signed a contract with him in January 1994.

Part of Brown's business involved pumping septic tanks in areas not served by the Friday Harbor sewer system. This waste, as well as sludge from the town, was stored in sludge "lagoons," deep pits draped with EPA-approved plastic liners where the material could be held before being spread and tilled into the soil.

Odor didn't drift their way

Only a few neighbors at the eastern end of Brown's 155-acre farmland noticed the smell at first, according to those who live nearby. Some said they didn't protest because the odor never drifted their way. And, said Celie Lansing, "many of us were in agreement with what he was doing."

In January of this year, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state Department of Ecology established two classifications of sludge and imposed strict quality standards on each. Because the waste from the treatment plant did not meet the standards for ground spreading, Brown covered it with lime, an accepted method for treating sludge.

He also dug a new lagoon about 30 feet from the Lansings' property.

"It was overwhelming," Celie Lansing said. "It got to the point where we had to leave the house."

Along with other neighbors, the Lansings joined the protest against San Juan Organics. Brown, in an attempt to appease residents, decided to build another lagoon, this time on the west end of his property. But work had barely begun before western neighbors began to complain.

United with neighbors on the east, more than 30 people filed a lawsuit Aug. 4, demanding relief from the smell and compensation for loss of enjoyment and for devaluation of their property.

Brown has since asked the town to cancel its contract with him, and the council unanimously acceded earlier this month. San Juan County officials, meanwhile, are considering a ban on importing sludge, treating or storing it anywhere except at government facilities.

Out of business by next year

While Brown continues to operate his septic-tank pumping business, only two lagoons contain sludge and he anticipates being out of business by next year.

"I can't deal with all the politics," he said. "I've provided an environmentally correct alternative that is fully permitted, fully legal and extremely sensitive to ratepayers. Now they're going to find out the true cost of what it takes to take care of waste."

Neighbors are not unsympathetic to Brown's plight. Many agree his service was a potentially good solution to the problem of disposing of excess waste from the treatment plant. And despite their anger over the smell, they are also critical of the county's slow reaction to the bigger issue of waste disposal on the islands.

"Everybody is realizing that our future is tied together, but county residents don't pay anything," said Sam Pope, who lives on the western edge of Brown's property.

In recent weeks, county commissioners have been considering ways to spread the cost of improvements among all island residents. Although most residents on islands in San Juan County have septic tanks rather than sewers, much of the waste is processed at the Friday Harbor plant.

The need to share resources became more apparent when the Friday Harbor Town Council recently passed a $4.9 million sewer-improvement plan. The plan could mean a rate increase from $40 to more than $100 per month. With only 700 ratepayers in town, officials worry about unfairly charging town residents for a county problem.

"There need to be more customers to keep the rates low," said King Fitch, Friday Harbor town manager. Fitch added that he fears a "situation like the Boston Tea Party" where "the ratepayers will revolt."

"They simply cannot afford the commodity we're trying to sell them," Fitch said.

Most of the plans for dealing with excess waste come with a hefty price tag. One option includes building a composting plant that could turn the sludge into fertilizer safe for home gardening. Another involves shipping it out after plant capacity is reached. Town officials estimate the cost could be several million dollars.

Meantime, the excess sludge that once went to Kif Brown's land is piling up in holding tanks near the town.