Wastewater system concerns at Carlin Bay are expected to be flushed with a $3.1 million improvement project.

The project, which will serve about 200 properties in Carlin Bay on the east side of Lake Coeur d'Alene, includes constructing a new lagoon, improving the existing one and developing a land application program at a forest site.

"We'll be a completely green, non-polluting community," said Phil Noel, president of the Carlin Bay Property Owners Association (CBPOA). "That will be a big selling point. We need to be good stewards of the land we live on and the lake we play on."

Construction could be completed by late 2015.

John Tindall, engineering manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said Carlin Bay's existing lagoon is "very marginal."

"In the springtime it gets very full because the seepage rate doesn't keep up with the amount of wastewater coming in," Tindall said.

Tindall said no overflows have been documented in recent years, but residents have had to apply sandbags to portions of the lagoon to prevent overflow.

"It's scary to think about how much of a problem that would create if it did start to overflow," Tindall said.

Tindall said the CBPOA has been great to deal with during the planning phase of the project.

"There has been no enforcement action taken by Idaho DEQ to get them to come into compliance," he said. "They've done it willingly. It's a success story."

Tindall said the new lagoon will be constructed first, then the existing one will be temporarily taken offline to be improved.

The land application site northwest of the new lagoon will be irrigated from May to September with limited amounts of treated wastewater.

Noel said the project will cost each property owner about $15,000, which can be paid off in one lump sump or over 30 years at .25 percent interest. He said rates will increase about $40 per month when the project is complete.

The total amount of the loan through IDEQ is $2.8 million, but the agency offered more than $300,000 in "principal forgiveness" based on the median income in that area and other factors.

"It's our way to try to keep the cost for this system affordable," Tindall said.

IDEQ also awarded the CBPOA a $31,530 planning grant for the project, which was matched by the association.