We have talked several times about if the Terrebonne Sanitary District would require all homes and businesses to connect to the new system when it becomes operational. As we have reported, the district’s board has made their position clear that no one would be required to connect…for now.

Over the next few months the board of the TSD will be reviewing and establishing their “Sewer Use Regulations Ordinance”. This ordinance will contain the operating rules the district will abide by into the future. It will be important the public understand these rules since they will be having to live by them. We will keep you updated on their progress and of any changes they may make.

That being said, we would like to point out several areas of the proposed ordinance that have to do with who might be required to connect.

3. Use of Public Sewer Required

3.3 Existing onsite wastewater systems serving a single-family residence
may continue to be used if:
Construction within the last 25 years, based on a certificate of satisfactory completion…

We believe this means if your system was built more than 25 years ago you MUST connect. A quick search shows us that about 20 homes in the district would fall into this description and several more that are within a few years of being there.

3.5 Properties must connect to the public system if:
The property primarily is non-residential and relies on an onsite wastewater system.

This looks real clear…if you are a business you MUST connect to the system. We believe there are several businesses that will be shocked to discover their cost to connect and what their monthly rate cost will be.

d) A reasonable repair permit was issued for the onsite wastewater
system at least 5 years ago.

This means that if you had any repairs to your system that are more than 5 years old….you MUST connect.

So what do we make of this? In all fairness these rules have not been accepted yet by the board. It is possible that the board will adjust these rules so that no one has to connect. One more issue can come into play there:the board has said that although they will not require anyone to connect at this time they can not rule out that a future board could make that requirement.

THEY HAVE NOT ADOPTED ANY REGULATION OF ORDINANCE STATING THAT THEY WILL NOT REQUIRE CONNECTION.

We firmly believe that once the board realizes that they can not balance their budget without all homes and businesses connected, they will very quickly move to have everyone connected. At that point we will not be able to stop the connections. They will have the rule of law and the backing of Deschutes County on their side. We need to prepare.