Allouez Township to try blower for drainfield problem Near a Mohawk drainfield, from left, Mike Mattson, senior engineering technician for UP Engineers; Randy Conroy, DEQ Waste Management Division district geologist; and Ed Nissila, wastewater operator, discuss the blower (yellow box) that Allouez Township will use to try to solve a wastewater discharge problem that occurred in Mohawk last spring. Conroy visited township officials Thursday, Jan. 11. MOHAWK ’Äì An experimental electric blower could help solve the drainfield discharge problems that occurred in Mohawk last spring. Allouez Township officials learned this week that UP Engineers & Architects will soon begin voluntary monitoring of the equipment, which was donated to the township by Infiltrator Systems of Old Saybrook, Conn. Randy Conroy, district geologist for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Waste Management Division in Marquette, said a slime layer has built up in the drainfield and is stopping the discharge from infiltrating into the subsurface. Last spring several leaks were observed in the side of Mohawk’Äôs community mound septic system. Conroy has been in communication with UP Engineers and the township concerning ways to solve the problem. He said UP Engineers recently sent him results of their flow investigations and their recommendations to the township for remediation. "They’Äôre forging ahead with corrective action," Conroy said. The blower will introduce needed oxygen into the waste treatment system, Conroy noted, but whether that will solve the problem has not yet been determined. "It’Äôs just introducing air ’Äì trying to address the oxygen deficiencies beneath the drainfields," he said. "We’Äôll monitor it and see what happens." Mike Mattson, senior engineering technician for UP Engineers, said the blower, now being used on just one drainfield, is portable. "In about three weeks you’Äôll see everything in action," Mattson said. "We may switch it around (between drainfields) in the summer ’Ķ If it’Äôs successful we’Äôll use it on any drainfields that need it." Newly elected Allouez Township Supervisor Bill Luokkanen Allouez Township Supervisor Bill Luokinen said the equipment is free because it is still experimental and its use in Mohawk will be part of a study by the Connecticut company. At first, he said, UP Engineers wanted $12,000 to monitor the project; but since the township didn’Äôt have the funds they donated their services to monitor it until they determine whether it is successful. The only cost to the township is the electrical connection. Electrician Bert Kesanen of Sedar Bay did the wiring on the blower early this week. "It’Äôs going to be to their (UP Engineers’Äô) advantage," Luokkanen said. "It’Äôs ’Ķ a win-win situation all the way around." If the experiment is successful, he added, UP Engineers may be able to increase the capacity of the drainfield and make each drainfield more efficient. During April and May, 2000, Mohawk residents Ron Trapp and Scott Laurie discovered sewage pollution running from the community mound sewage system into a ditch where children were known to play. Laurie whose home is near the ditch, took a water sample from the ditch and had it tested at the Michigan Department of Community Health Upper Peninsula Laboratory on the Michigan Tech campus. The lab reported a result of 4,100 fecal coliform organisms (bacteria from human or animal intestines) per 100 ml. According to the standards used by the lab, the result fell into a category of 1,000-5,000 coliforms per 100 ml., described as a "suspicious range (which) generally indicates mild sewage pollution in natural waters but dangerous in proximity to fresh pollution." Laurie later discovered a second discharge in another Mohawk mound. A sample from the second site showed even greater coliform pollution ’Äì over 10,000 per 100 milliliters. The coliform organisms in both samples exceeded the 300 coliforms per 100 milliliters which Jim LaFleur, Western Upper Peninsula Health Department director of environmental health services, called the maximum allowable amount for surface water in that ditch. Last spring Conroy said he believed spring flows and the high groundwater table impacted the discharge to the drainfield itself. Since learning of the problem last spring, Conroy has been in contact with UP Engineers concerning their flow studies of the area and with Ed Nissila, Allouez Township wastewater operator. UP Engineers will be communicating with Nissila concerning the operation of the electric blower. - Michele Anderson January 12, 2001