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t' .. The proposed MUSA amendment is ronsistent with Regional Blueprint policy. Wastewater Treatment (Jim Larsen) The southeastern portion of the city of Ramsey located within the MUSA receives metropolitan sanitary sewer service through interceptors 77-07 and 83-62. In 1989 the city was issued a limitation on the number of new sanitary sewer connections until phase out of the Anoka wastewater treatment facility. The phase out was completed in May, 1993 and all new connection restrictions have been lifted. Wastewater flow is now conveyed through the CAB interceptor to the Metropolitan Treatment Plant in St. Paul for treatment and discharge into the Mississippi River. Sufficient capacity exists in each of the metropolitan interceptors providing service to the city of Ramsey to accommodate all the city's planned growth through 2010. The city's rural transition and rural service areas have already undergone extensive development in single family residences. The majority of these residences are on lots ranging in size from one to two and one-half acres. Currently there are over 4,100 households in the city. Less than 10 percent of these households are located within the current MUSA and receive municipal sanitary sewer service. The remaining 3,600 + households are served by individual on-site septic systems. While the city did change its rural development policy in 1990 to preclude further development at densities in excess of four units per 40 acres, there are a significant number of lots of record in the city's rural and rural transition areas that will develop at higher density. See map attachment 2. The city's Comprehensive Sewer Plan states that municipal trunk sanitary sewers will be sized large enough to uitimately provide collective sewer service to the entire rural transition area, but that there are currently no plans or proposals to extend collective sewer service into the area until some point beyond the year 2010 planning period. The city of Ramsey is located in an area identified regionally as the Anoka sand plain where soils have been characterized as sandy and rapidly permeable, and are known to be susceptible to possible contamination of underground water supplies when allowed to develop through the utilization of on-site septic systems. The city has developed an extensive portion of its area utilizing on-site systems while relying on over 3,600 property owners for the determination of each system's integrity. The Council staff is concerned about reliance on self-inspections by citizens for solids removal and total system integrity. Council Wastewater Treatment and Handling Policy Plan (Policy Plan) policy 1-2 states that on-site sewage disposal systems are appropriate to serve single family residences at development densities of four units per 40 acres or less, if governments plan for them and adopt a management and control system consistent with federal and state laws and Council guidelines. On-site sewage disposal systems are not suited for urban development densities. A post-installation inspection program is necessary to insure on-site systems are operated properly to prevent system failures which would result in groundwater contamination. Council staff is not aware of any community in the metropolitan area that contains a greater concentration of individual on-site systems. To avoid unplanned, premature extension of municipal or metropolitan sanitary sewers and municipal water to areas of past development in the rural and rural transition areas of the city, Council staff recommends that the city modify its on-site system management program and ordinances to incorporate all facets of the Council's standards for proper design, location, installation, maintenance and on-going monitoring of on-site systems. Program modifications need to include the requirement that all on-site systems in the city be inspected at least biennially by an individual 7