The City Council has approved Coeur d’Alene Wastewater Director Mike Anderson’s request to authorize wastewater services to seven existing single-family residential parcels in the French Gulch area.

The French Gulch homes, Anderson said, have historically relied on a shared subsurface drain field system. 

"Wastewater services aren't typically allowed outside the city limits,” Anderson said. “The exception being the formal approval of the City Council.” 

The need for city services arose when the French Gulch drainfield system recently ceased to function. 

“The legally permitted community drainfield failed,” said Tom Fink, president of the French Gulch Drain Field Association. “Effluent was surfacing on the ground, creating a public health and water quality concern.” 

Fink said French Gulch Creek is within 100 feet of the drainfield; the Rathdrum-Spokane Valley Aquifer is adjacent to it; multiple streams run through the site and flow toward the city and area lakes; and a city well is less than 2,000 yards from the drainfield. 

“A lot of the effluent that’s pumped down the system ends up surfacing at a rate of 15 to 20 gallons per minute,” said Eric Illum with Olson Engineering. “You really need to watch your step out there.” 

Fink presented a document from the Panhandle Health District to the public works committee at a Jan. 26 meeting, confirming the failed drainfield. The solution, Fink said, was to connect the affected properties to the city’s municipal water system on French Gulch Road.  

“Reviews of the site revealed no practical alternatives were available to address the failure through repair, replacement or installation of individual on-site systems,” Anderson said. “As a result, the common system cannot continue to be used without ongoing risk to public health and the environment."  

French Gulch homeowners will be responsible for all costs associated with connecting to the city’s wastewater system, including the design, construction and abandonment of the existing drainfield, as well as any ongoing fees. 

“Each house will have an individual line and pay to be hooked up to the city’s infrastructure,” Mayor Dan Gookin said. “Everyone has to be hooked up to the system by the Sept. 30 deadline.”