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December
Black Bear awaits DEQ septic permit
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Page 2: Grant Township residents voice more concerns
At the November 14 Grant Township Board meeting, Conroy, Sullivan and Black
Bear President Lonie Glieberman were present to address concerns of board
members and the public.
 Conroy noted at the meeting that Black Bear had moved ahead, under favorable
weather conditions, to construct the sewer and drainfield before receiving the
permit.
"We advised them that that's at their own risk," Conroy said.
"At the present time we have a notification to them that they cannot use
the wastewater system. They don't have Part 31 authorization until we've worked
out the conditions required for certain water quality protection."*
Conroy also mentioned at the meeting that his response document replying to
public comments during the comment period (Sept. 28 to Oct. 29, 2001) was
available for anyone who wished to see how the comments were addressed.
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John Sullivan, principal for U.P. Engineers and Architects, Inc., holds plans
for the septic drainfield and sewer system, which he described during the Nov.
14 Grant Township Board meeting in the Copper Harbor Community Building.
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At that Nov. 14 meeting, Sullivan explained the construction of the septic
drainfield and sewer system. He said the construction consisted of modifying the
40,000-gallon holding tank that was built last year. The wastewater is to
be pumped out of that tank for a distance of about 800 feet (and up 50 feet of
elevation) with a four-inch diameter force main. It would then go via gravity
downhill to the county road through a six-inch diameter sewer main. It will then
be pumped along the highway for about 800 feet and through the woods, through
the old gravel pit area and the 8,000-square-foot drainfield area, which is
built up above the natural soils.
"We removed the topsoil, the organic material, and brought in a minimum
of 18 inches of fill (sand, a layer of rock and drain tiles, covered with sand
and loam)," Sullivan explained.
He added the total length of the force main and gravity sewer line is about
5,400 feet and the pipes in the drainfield are about 18 inches below the ground
surface. The system is designed for an 8,500 gallons per day maximum, or 11
gallons per skier per day.
Conroy confirmed that the design allowed sufficient vertical isolation of the
pipes from the seasonal high water table and that he did not observe reduction
of soil particles, which would indicate effects of water-saturated soil in the
past.
"As long as you have the upper layers of the soil not saturated with
water, the bacteria will do the job (as far as protecting property boundaries
and water quality)," Conroy said.
He noted health departments and DEQ do not authorize drainfields in areas
that exhibit seasonal high water within two feet of the ground surface and
certainly not with wet soils.
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Paul Campbell, Lac La Belle resident, who owns property adjacent to the Mt.
Bohemia septic system, examines the bank of a wetland to the west of the
drainfield. DEQ Land and Water Management staff confirmed that, while the
wetland connects with Lac La Belle (and Lake Superior), there is no connection
to the drainfield and no need for their division to regulate it.
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The question of wetlands about 150 feet to the west of the drainfield, came
up at the meeting and in correspondence between adjacent property owner Paul
Campbell and Conroy. According to Conroy, those wetlands were not identified on
the application. He said at the meeting that Margie Ring, when she visited the
site, had not noted any wetlands within the regulatory lateral distance of 500
feet. However, he communicated the concerns of Campbell and other residents to
the DEQ Land and Water Management Division (LWMD) staff, who visited the area
last week.
Cary Gustafson, LWMD district representative from Crystal Falls, and Ginny
Pennala, LWMD district supervisor from Negaunee, both inspected the wetland area
to the west of the drainfield mentioned by Campbell as a concern. Gustafson said
his division administers Part 303 Wetland Protection, which deals
only with physical use of a wetland or impact to a wetland.
"If they were to have a pipe going into the wetland or if they were
filling the wetland, then Land and Water Management would deal with it,"
Gustafson said on Dec. 7. "Our interpretation is that Part 303 does not
apply to this project."
He noted the area was definitely a wetland and it connects to Lac La Belle,
but that isn't an issue if there is no connection between the drainfield and the
wetland, i.e., a pipe going right into the wetland. Gustafson explained that in
some cases wetlands can be used for wastewater treatment, and that requires a
permit.
Conroy said he was confident the septic system, with the drainfield, would
treat the wastewater adequately before it could reach any wetland, unless the
system should become overloaded beyond the limit of 8,500 gallons per day.
At the Nov. 14 meeting, Grant Township Supervisor Ken Korhorn asked whether the sewers and drainfield pipes were at a sufficient
distance from any wells in the area.
Conroy replied that he had documentation from the DEQ Drinking Water and
Radiological Protection Division (who regulate public water supplies, such as
those for the ski hill) that they do not have any concerns. He said private,
or domestic, wells would be under the Western Upper Peninsula Health
Department, to whom he also sent the public notice about the project, and he had
not received any written comments from them.
Paul Campbell, adjacent property owner, said he still had concerns about the
proximity of the drainfield to his own well -- approximately 1,000 feet.
Conroy noted the plans and specifications -- approved by Margie Ring, DEQ
Waste Management Division senior environmental engineer -- include the required
distances from wastewater discharge to the wells and such issues as the
design of sewer lines to be separate from water lines.
Chuck Brumleve, geologist and Grant Township resident, asked how the nutrient
loading would be monitored on this system.
"Are there going to be Groundwater Surface Water Interface monitoring
points?" Brumleve asked.
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Chuck Brumleve, standing, geologist and Grant Township resident, asks
questions about wastewater monitoring and soil suitability during the Nov. 14
Grant Township Board meeting in Copper Harbor.
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Conroy said the volume limitations would make such monitoring unnecessary,
but there would be phosphorous monitoring, probably in the dosing chamber prior
to discharge into the drainfield.
Said Brumleve, "We all know that lake eutrophication -- once it happens
-- is a very slow thing to reverse, if at all."
Brumleve noted also that the soil in the area appears to be so permeable that
there would be little uptake of nutrients, especially uptake of inorganics,
which is very slow.
"You would have very little uptake," Brumleve said. "It would
just be a matter of dilution and dispersion that you would rely on to reduce the
nutrient concentration."
In an Oct. 29, 2001, letter to Scott Ross, chief of the Groundwater Permits
Unit of the DEQ Waste Management Division in Lansing, Brumleve notes that the
native soils in the drainfield area were mapped this past summer and classified
by the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation
Service Soil Survey Division as having very rapid permeability (soils named
Waiska Series). In this letter, Brumleve compares this recent soil mapping data
to information in a 1990 report on a drainfield site proposed for the same area
at that time:
"In 1990, U.P. Engineering and Architectural Associates, Inc. (now U.P. Engineers and Architects. Inc) authored
'Preliminary Engineering Report for Lac La Belle / Mt. Bohemia Resort' (April, 1990) in which one development alternative sites a drainfield in the same location as the one currently proposed by Black Bear Entertainment (i.e., SW1/4, NW1/4, Sect. 33, see Figure 5 of report). The report
concludes, 'According to the soil survey, the soils in this area are a Waiska gravelly sand. This sand has a high permeability (greater than 6 in/hr), therefore two feet of approved fill material with a permeability of 2 to 6 in/hr would be required to provide adequate
treatment.' (C. 1. a), Page 17, Preliminary Engineering Report for Lac La Belle / Mt. Bohemia Resort, April, 1990)."
At the Nov. 14 meeting, Brumleve asked Sullivan, who signed that report, why,
if he thought the soil of that area needed to be replaced in 1990, he would consider it acceptable for wastewater treatment now.
Sullivan replied that the soil mentioned in that report was in a different
area.
However, Brumleve said the map with the 1990 report indicates Sullivan was
talking about the same sections and quarter sections as the present location of
Black Bear's drainfield.
"The soils don't change," Brumleve said.
Trustee Richard Powers asked Sullivan if UP Engineers would be able to measure the
output from Day One, noting the difficulties in measuring flow from discharge
side of the Copper Harbor sewer system. He said he would like to see a
measurement of the water supply instead of a measurement on the discharge side.
He also asked if a license was required for the person taking down the flow
information.
The draft copy of the Part 31 Exemption Authorization Conditions so far is
not specific on how and where the flow should be measured. It states: (Condition
#6) "The discharge volume shall be monitored by a flow measurement device.
The permittee shall record the daily average flow, at no less than a weekly
basis and the total flow annually in a log that shall be made available for
review upon request by the Department or the district health department that has
jurisdiction. A report of the average daily flows and annual total flow shall be
submitted to the Department by January 10 of each year for the preceding
calendar year."
Conroy noted Black Bear would have to have a certified operator, as opposed to a person in
training, to oversee
the septic system and sign the documents.
Brumleve said he was still concerned about the monitoring of the inorganic
and nutrient loading to the system and the flow volume, since meters for
sewerage are not very reliable. He asked Conroy if reports of the weekly
measured volumes and phosphorous monitoring twice a month, which go to Lansing,
would be available to the township upon request. Conroy confirmed that this is
public information and it would be available.
Conroy said he plans to accommodate, with a permit condition, Surface Water
Quality Division staff in their requirement of lowered annual flow and
monitoring of phosphorous.
Copper Harbor resident Barb Foley asked if part of the program the DEQ is
approving for Mt. Bohemia is based on existing problems in Lac La Belle at this
time.
"I think it's based on the nutrient budget, the water quality of Lac La
Belle," Conroy said. "Their (Surface Water Quality Division's)
nutrient budget for this particular additional discharge, additional loading
potential to Lac La Belle, is based on the science of their baseline water
quality analysis conducted over the past summer."
Tom Collins, South Shore Association president, said he had communicated with
Rich Corner and that SSA planned to share with the DEQ Surface Water Quality
Division the results of their own testing program last summer.
"We probably going to work with them in sharing our data," Collins
said, "because we are concerned about the loading in Lac La Belle.
*Editor's Note: See Keweenaw Now's Nov. 13 article, "Black Bear constructs Mt. Bohemia septic system without DEQ permit."
The Part 31 and Part 303 regulations mentioned in this article are under the Natural
Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994, PA 451 as amended (Act 451).
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