Nov. 8--Back when the city made plans for its new Perche Creek wastewater treatment plant, we had a grand public argument whether to send effluent directly into the Missouri River or into a new wetlands in the McBaine bottoms, later to be called Eagle Bluffs.

Nature lovers and environmentalists -- bless them for their starry eyes -- went gaga over the wetlands. The mayor of Lupus, a tiny river town downstream from the proposed treatment plant dump site, launched a campaign that caught the attention of Columbians who imagined a pristine nature area festooned with cattails and visiting waterfowl. The wetlands would capture and cleanse the sewer plant effluent as it slowly drifted toward eventual drainage into the river. It was a lovely image.

Ray Beck, city manager and former public works director, peered from beneath his engineer's eyeshade at the practical aspects of the deal: It would be not that expensive to build a treatment plant sending wastewater of acceptable cleanliness directly into the river, the cost of building the wetlands would hike the overall cost of the project, and flooding the neighborhood of the city's drinking water supply with wetland water had to be a questionable idea.

Pooh, pooh, said the wetlands lovers. The wells were supplied by groundwater flowing from the north, not from the river or its environs. The idea of dumping wastewater directly into the river seemed awful. Letting nature do part of the job in a wetlands was just too swell.

Finally a public vote produced a strong majority willing to spend some $2 million more to build the wetlands, cattails were planted, and sewer plant effluent and migrating birds moved in.

Now the question of water well impairment is back on the table. In recent years additional pollution has been measured -- nothing yet dangerous to our health but certainly something needful of correction, brought into sharper focus as the city plans to drill an additional well in the area to service a growing need for water.

Environmental experts are beginning to question the proximity of the wetlands. Eagle Bluffs contains millions of gallons of water from the treatment plant and the Missouri River itself, as flooding sends water coursing back and forth among the cattails. This is fine for the traveling birds but maybe not the best for well water quality.

Engineers are noticing a reversal of underground water flow toward the wells. Water seems to be entering the wells from both directions, contributing to the pollution.

Engineers also say the cause of pollution might not be the wetlands. They have put the new well on hold while they do additional research.

I'm not worried about the eventual outcome here. With the issue plainly on the table and so many positive attributes of the city's water supply to build on, we can add another well and control pollution. We just aren't sure yet how best to proceed.

A certain solution might be to upgrade the Perche Creek wastewater treatment plant and send its effluent directly to the river after all. Eagle Bluffs could be preserved for wildlife and bird-watching. River water quality could be preserved. The water supply would be protected. The cattails would live.

It's a matter of cost versus benefit. As the city studies what to do next, it might as well include the option of removing wastewater entirely from Eagle Bluffs, a straightforward bit of engineering that would not be that expensive and would give helpful insight into long-range plans for developing and protecting the city water supply. In the long view, the connubial relationship between the water wells and the wetlands seems unsustainable. Perhaps a divorce is in order.

HJW III

Hope is the feeling that you have

that the feeling you have isn't permanent.

-- JEAN KERR

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