Prairie Falcons dispose of three-acre septic system

With Prairie High now off septic, which are Clark County’s largest remaining septic systems? Here’s a list from Clark County Public Health, based on gallons-per-day discharge capacity (not daily usage):

o Old Apostolic Lutheran Church 2320 Lewisville Highway, Battle Ground: 9,150 gallons

o Nguyen Berry Farm fields on south side of Northwest 199th Street, Ridgefield: 9,000 gallons

o B.G. Schools, CASEE facility 11104 N.E. 149th Street, Brush Prairie: 5,535 gallons

o B.G. Schools, Yacolt Primary School 406 West Yacolt Road: 5,200 gallons

o Paradise Point State Park 33920 N.W. Paradise Park Road, Ridgefield: 5,500 gallons

o B.G. Schools, Amboy Middle School 22115 N.E. Chelatchie Road: 3,780 gallons

o B.G. Schools, Glenwood/Laurin schools (with portables) 9716 N.E. 134th St.: 3,750 gallons

o Country Manor Mobile Village 15619 N.E. Caples Road, Brush Prairie: not available

o Vanridge Mobile Home Park 415 N.E. 194th St, Ridgefield: not available

o Greenway Terrace Mobile Estates 7110 N.E. 117th Ave.: not available

o Amboy Trailer Court 39617 N.E. Amboy Road: not available

The Prairie High School Falcons are flushing, with pride.

That’s right: Thirty-one years after the campus opened in 1979 using a septic drain system in what was then mostly rural Brush Prairie, the 1,500-student school is finally hooked up to the sanitary sewer, with the help of federal stimulus money.

A week ago, crews completed the switch. Prairie is now tied into the Clark Regional Wastewater District’s north-south line, installed a year ago along the school’s western border about 700 feet away.

That line was built to serve the recently opened WinCo Foods store, directly north of Prairie High across Northeast 119th Street.

The cost of the school sewer tie-in, not including the hookup fees, was $189,000. The work was done by Advanced Excavating Specialists of Kalama.

While Prairie’s septic system has served adequately over the decades, Battle Ground school district leaders jumped last year at the chance to leverage stimulus funds for the project.

In November, the district approved the sale of nearly $4 million in special Qualified School Construction Bonds, for which the work qualified. Under the stimulus package approved by Congress, the federal government pays all or most of the interest due to bondholders.

The timing of the WinCo sewer extension made the move attractive, leading to the dismantling of one of Clark County’s largest septic systems. Prairie’s discharge capacity was certified at 7,320 gallons per day, the third-highest in the county.

The sale of the special construction bonds also paid for parking lot improvements at Prairie High. (Meantime, the school gained a north driveway that links with a Northeast 119th Street traffic light installed to serve WinCo shoppers, the food chain and the district sharing the cost.)

The bonds also will pay for new or improved alarm and video surveillance systems currently being installed at several Battle Ground schools.

The clincher in the deal: The old septic drain field, which covers at least three acres, will be reclaimed to become new Prairie athletic fields. That conversion helped Battle Ground secure the federal project support, since it relates to student safety, health and meeting federal Title IX gender equity in athletic facilities.

Much design work remains, and the septic fields must stand idle for at least six months to allow for complete draining, the district said.

It’s hoped that the replacement athletic fields will be ready for use in autumn 2012.

Four other Battle Ground Schools facilities rank among the county’s biggest septic systems. Without available sewer lines, there are no plans for future conversions, the district said.

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.