MULLAN — The city of Mullan is in the midst of a little housekeeping, as they work to repair various sections of sewer line inside the city.

The project consists of constructing and replacing approximately 2,500 feet of gravity sanitary sewer pipe and associated manholes, as well as paved roadway reconstruction, utility relocations and other related work.

Mullan owns its own sewer system, but has its wastewater treated by the South Fork Sewer District (SFSD). The SFSD has noticed that significant amounts of groundwater were getting into Mullan’s underground system, precipitating the work.

This can result in major health and safety risks to the public and the system operators.

For the public, groundwater infiltrates the system which cannot be fully removed during treatment at the Mullan treatment plant. This groundwater that is seeping into the system is tainted with unsafe levels of toxic heavy metals such as zinc, lead, cadmium and arsenic (which isn’t filtered by the SFSD) and then pumped back into the Coeur d’Alene River.

For the system operators, in addition to frequent exposure to toxic sewage, as well as the groundwater contaminants, 70% of Mullan’s manholes pre-date current design standards and have no safe access for maintenance.

In 2018, Mullan passed a bond and applied for several grants to help cover the costs related to the $3 million project.

“The bond was community supported and passed without issue,” said Mullan mayor Don Kotschevar. “What we’re trying to do here is to replace bad lines that hadn’t been addressed. We want to tighten the system up so that the groundwater from the spring thaw can’t inundate the system.”

The project, which began earlier this summer, is set to conclude in 2021 and will allow Mullan to also finish off some of the paving that they didn’t get to during their portion of the EPA’s Paved Roads Project.

Fixing these issues also allows SFSD to stay in compliance with various regulatory agencies while allowing the city to preserve some funds.

“Being able to work with the South Fork Sewer District to help keep them in compliance is important to us,” Kotschevar said. “If not then they can’t handle our wastewater. Really, it’s saving us a lot of money.”