Connecting to Public Sewer
Connecting Your Neighborhood & NIDs
If your home and your neighbor’s homes are all connected to a common treatment facility such as a neighborhood lagoon and you and your neighbors need assistance with managing the system, the District may be able to help.
Connecting Existing Home or Business
If you are experiencing a problem with your septic system or private lagoon, your property may be situated in an area where it’s feasible to connect to public sewer.
Connecting a New Development
Connecting Your Neighborhood
The process for transferring ownership, operations and maintenance to the Sewer District is as follows:
- Concept Review – Representatives of the neighborhood meet with District personnel to discuss transfer of ownership of the private system to the Sewer District.
- Inspection of private treatment and collection system – District personnel evaluate the system. The District will not accept a system that does not meet its standards.
- Review of Inspection Report – The District shares results of inspection shared with owners.
- Completion of Improvements – If needed, owners complete the improvements documented in the inspection report at their own expense. If the costs are substantial, the County Commission may form a Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) to finance the design and construction costs of the improvements.
- Connection and Inspection Fees – The owners will need to pay connection and inspection fees.
- Transfer of Sewer Easements – All easements to the collection system must be transferred to the Sewer District to allow access for operations and maintenance.
- Transfer of Ownership – Once improvements are complete and the project is inspected and accepted, the neighborhood transfers real estate ownership to the Sewer District by way of a Warranty Deed and other property by Bill of Sale.
- Transfer of O and M – Sewer District takes over operations and maintenance of the system.
- Initiate Monthly Sewer Service Bill – Property owners receive a monthly sewer service bill.
NIDs (Neighborhood Improvement Districts)
Connecting neighborhoods where each home has its own individual sewer system:
There are neighborhoods in the County where each home has its own sewer system. Often these systems were built before water quality regulations became stricter and now the on-site sewer system is obsolete. Homeowners are faced with the high cost and hassle of improving their individual sewer system. Sometimes these neighborhoods find that the best solution is to install a public collection and treatment system. The Sewer District is willing to explore providing service.
Often the cost to make the transition from private to public seems to be more than you think you can manage, but there is a program that offers affordable funding. The Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) program makes it financially feasible for individual homeowners and their neighbors to install a public sanitary sewer system. The neighborhood borrows the cost of the sewer system from the County. Residents pay back their share of the cost over a twenty-year period at a low interest rate. Once construction is complete, the District will take over the operation and maintenance of the system and the residents will become District customers.
How to Form a NID – An explanation of how to form a NID is available on the Boone County website at the link below. In the case of sanitary sewer NIDs, District personnel will be the NID coordinator and can provide the application to form a NID to interested property owners and submit the completed application to the Boone County Commission.
Once the NID is complete, the residents who benefit may pay off their share of the costs in one lump sum or over twenty years in annual payments to the Boone County Collector.
Connecting an Existing Home or Business
If you are experiencing a problem with your septic system or private lagoon, you may want to look into connecting to a public sanitary sewer system. Occasionally, properties with on-site systems are situated in areas where it is feasible to connect the individual property to public sewer.
There are costs associated with connecting to public sewer:
- The property owner will need to hire an engineer to design the connection.
- The cost of constructing the lines to connect your property to the public system is the owner’s responsibility.
- The owner must pay Sewer District connection and inspection fees.
- There will be a monthly sewer service bill.
However, once his/her property is connected, the homeowner will never have to face the expense of improvements to an on-site treatment system.
Connecting a New Development
If you are interested in developing a piece of property in unincorporated Boone County, you need to meet with the Sewer District to discuss how to provide sanitary sewer service to the homes or businesses. The following describes the process from the perspective of: Questions on any connection information below?
Process for connecting a new development to the Sewer District:
1. Concept Review –Developers and their engineers meet with the Sewer District to determine options for sewer service.
2. Submission of Preliminary Plan/Plat – District staff reviews plans and shares comments with the Developer and/or Engineer.
3. Preparation, Acquisition and Assignment of Sewer Easements, Warranty Deed and Bill of Sale – All easements to the sanitary sewer system must be granted to the Sewer District. The developer must transfer real estate ownership to the Sewer District by way of a Warranty Deed and other property by Bill of Sale.
4. Submission of Revised Plans and Legal Documents – The developer must submit five copies of the final plans to the Sewer District as well as the easements, warranty deed, bill of sale and proposed final plat.
5. City of Columbia Approval – If wastewater treatment is provided by the City of Columbia, the plans are submitted to City Engineering for approval. The District follows the City of Columbia’s sanitary sewer specifications.
6. Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Approval and Construction Permit – Once the plans are approved, the plans are submitted to MDNR along with application for construction permit and the application fee. The fee depends on the type and size of the proposed system.
7. Sewer District Construction Permit – Developer or the construction company hired by the developer to build the sanitary sewer acquires a Sewer District construction permit at the District office. The permit gives the District notice of when construction is scheduled to begin. There is no fee involved.
8. Construction Inspection – District personnel inspect the construction in progress.
9. Pre-final inspection – District personnel perform pre-final inspection and prepare final punch list.
10. As-Builts – Once the sewer system is complete, as-builts must be prepared and submitted to Sewer District.
11. Record Final Plat – Sanitary sewer infrastructure must be completed and operable before the Plat is recorded.
12. Facility Start-Up – The developer will arrange a walk through and training session for Sewer District operators on new treatment facilities and pump stations.
13. Notice of Completion to MDNR – District submits letter of authorization to MDNR and applies for Operating Permit if applicable.
Designing the Sanitary Sewer System for the Proposed Development
When designing sanitary sewer infrastructure that will become part of the Sewer District’s system, please follow the City of Columbia’s Sanitary Sewer Specifications and Standards (link to the right). The District Board felt it made sense to standardize the sewer utility in Boone County by adopting the City of Columbia’s Sanitary Sewer Specifications. Also many areas of the District system are interconnected to the City of Columbia, so it made sense to follow the same specifications.
If you are designing a Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP) system, please download info in links to the right.
Please review the process noted above for the developer of a new development. Some of the steps are pertinent to the Engineer.
Building homes in the new development
So you are building a home in a neighborhood that is part of the Boone County Regional Sewer District. Early in the process, we recommend that you stop by the Sewer District to fill out the Application for Service. At that time, we can determine what kind of system serves the neighborhood and identify the inspection and connection fee. Most of the District’s system is a conventional gravity system but many of the new neighborhoods are served by pressurized systems.
The inspection fee for a connection to a Gravity System is different from the fee for Pressurized Systems since inspecting a gravity connection usually only requires one trip whereas there are four inspections of a pressurized system. The connection fee is the same for all new connections; however, the fee has been waived in subdivisions where the developer paid for the cost of providing wastewater treatment.
Contact us to find out what type of system serves the subdivision in which you are building and the current connection fee and inspection fee.
If you are building a home in a neighborhood that utilizes a STEP system, download specs & contact us with questions or more information.