OTHELLO - Othello is moving toward an extensive sewer collection upgrade to the entire area south of state Route 26.

Most of the residents and businesses in this area are on septic tanks but at least 50 homes are using a collective sewer system that discharges into a lagoon, according to Larry Julius, project manager with consulting and engineering services firm Gray and Osbourne.

The firm is assisting the city on the project as one of the requirements of receiving federal funding, he said.

The city applied for a federal Community Development Block grant for sewer system improvements in the fall of 2010, according to City Administrator Ehman Sheldon. The application was recently approved and Othello was awarded $920,000 to improve the sewer collection system south from the Kelley Bean Company on South Broadway, across SR 26 to Moon Street and south to the Ed McCann property.

Along with federal funding, Adams County pledged $50,000, landowners pledged $50,000 and the city pledged $80,000, which is a portion of the state public works trust fund for the design of a sewer system in an industrial area near state Route 24, according to information provided by Othello.

The project is the first step in the city's plan to bring new utilities and roads to that area, Julius said. The sewer project ties into an industrial area near SR 24.

The State Department of Ecology is proactively trying to eliminate lagoon sewers across Washington. The Adams County Health District has been seeking solutions to what is widely seen as an antiquated and unsanitary method of waste collection.

Property owners in the area have been onboard with the project, which will get them onto a shared city system, Julius said.

The city's engineering design plans for the new collection system were completed with a previous $600,000 loan from the public works trust fund, Julius said. Traffic in the immediate area of Moon Street may be impacted when sewer pipe is put in the ground, he said, although no specific construction timeline has been determined at this time.