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2020 Eugene Wastewater Master Plan Chapter 5: Rehab of Existing Systems 39 The process is repeated continually. It is important to review the entire system each year due to changing priorities, new information, development trends, budget considerations, and operational needs. Finance Planning Adequate funding for an effective wastewater rehabilitation program requires financial planning in two major areas: • Wastewater user charge administration and rate setting: The local portion of the wastewater user charge supports operation, maintenance, and rehab of the existing wastewater systems and provides some capital improvement funding. The user charge will likely continue to be the main source of funding for the rehabilitation program. Any increase in user charges to support an expanded program must be coordinated with the regional user charge and implemented so as to avoid major impact on ratepayers. • Capital Improvement Program planning: Wastewater rehabilitation improvements have generally been funded as a single program item in the CIP budget. This practice should continue, as specific areas and projects are defined annually based on current model outputs and other priorities as discussed above. REHABILITATION OF PRIVATE SERVICE LATERALS Service laterals, which extend from the main wastewater line to a business or residence, have the potential to be major contributors to infiltration. Historically, when the mainline is rehabilitated, the portion of the service lateral from the mainline to the right of way is included in the rehabilitation project. From the right-of-way line to the business or residence, the pipe is private property. As long as it appears to be working, there is little incentive for the private owner to replace or repair the pipe regardless of its contribution of I/I into the wastewater system. There is general agreement among wastewater professionals that I/I from private service laterals exacerbates peak flow issues in the wastewater collection and treatment system. Initial assessments of Eugene's flow monitoring data support this notion. An analysis done for the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission in 2015 offered a number of conclusions: • Regulatory standards exist for the management of wet weather flows and the prohibition of sanitary sewer overflows. • Substantial penalties are associated with noncompliance with the regulatory standards. • The Eugene/Springfield Regional Water Pollution Control Facility experiences significant peak flows due to infiltration and inflow in the public and presumably the private segments of the sanitary sewer system. These peak flows increase the costs to collect and convey water in the sanitary system to the treatment plant, reduce treatment efficiency and increase treatment costs, and increase the potential for overflows from the sanitary sewer system. • Significant funding and resources have been applied by MWMC and Eugene and Springfield to the repair and rehabilitation of the public segments of the sanitary sewer infrastructure, and to expanding the capacity of the regional treatment facility to accept and treat peak wet weather flows. • Neither city has specific code requirements at this time related to the responsibilities for proper operation and maintenance of private service laterals connected to the public sanitary system.