Riverton sewage plant approved

DRAPER — The threat of a moratorium on new sewer connections in south Salt Lake County was lifted Wednesday when sewer district officials agreed to build a more environmentally and neighbor-friendly sewage-treatment plant in Riverton.

Area elected officials, developers and Riverton residents exchanged handshakes and pats on the back after the South Valley Sewer District's board of trustees unanimously agreed to move forward with the more expensive but benefit-laden plant using membrane technology. The decision negated the need for a moratorium that would have stalled development in some of Utah's fastest-growing cities.

"No matter what the cost increase is for (a membrane) plant, it will be far, far less than the economic costs of imposing a moratorium," said Herriman Mayor Lynn Crane, who sits on the sewer district's board of trustees.

"In my particular city, (a moratorium) would be devastating," said Kent Money, sewer district trustee and mayor of South Jordan, home to the burgeoning Daybreak development.

Talk of a moratorium on new sewer connections within the district's service area — roughly the southern third of Salt Lake County — surfaced in December amid capacity concerns.

The sewer district had less than 100,000 gallons of available capacity at the South Valley Water Reclamation Facility in West Jordan, said Craig White, the sewer district's general manager.

Municipalities in the district already have approved more than 5,300 building lots that are not connected to the system, which would require an estimated 2 million gallons per day of capacity, White said.

Part of the problem was the delay in getting a new sewage-treatment facility built to meet the growth demands of southwest Salt Lake County. Sewer district officials have been working since March 2002 on plans for a plant in Riverton, but they met opposition from residents who didn't want a sewage-treatment plant as its neighbor along the Jordan River at 13500 South.

A decision by the Riverton Board of Adjustments to revoke a conditional-use permit for the plant in November 2005 sparked a legal battle that has reached the state Court of Appeals.

The resolution passed Wednesday in support of building a membrane facility is subject to conditions that a written settlement be entered into by parties of lawsuits that have blocked construction of the plant. The sewer district also will seek to get the Court of Appeals to reinstate the conditional-use permit.