Abuses at an RV dump station are a growing problem. What should Sumner do about it?
Update: The Sumner City Council voted 6-1 Monday during the council meeting to close the RV dump station.
Council members Barbara Bitetto, Carla Bowman, Curt Brown, Pat Clerget, Pat Cole and Earle Stuard voted in support of the closure. Council member Andy Elfers voted against it.
Initial post: Those who use the RV dump station in Sumner may need to find an alternative.
The Sumner City Council will vote Monday, March 4, whether to close the dump station at 13114 63rd St. E. by the end of April. The City Council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at 1104 Maple Street and virtually at sumnerwa-gov.zoom.us/j/82831900384.
There is a public comment period at the meeting. Those who cannot attend can submit their comment to the City Clerk at michellec@sumnerwa.gov no later than 5:30 p.m.
The dump station was originally installed in 2015 for local RV owners to dispose of wastewater. It is in a residential area next to the city’s sewage treatment plant. The station is free and open at all times.
City spokesperson Carmen Palmer wrote in an email that the city installed the dump station to give utility payers a free service. It worked as intended for many years, she said.
“The increased risks and costs we face change the cost/benefit analysis. In a lot of services, it’s our job to assess if things that worked in the past still work well for our residents and ratepayers,” Palmer said.
In the last several years the station has seen carpet cleaners, food truck owners and visitors traveling through the city, Ryan Johnstone, the public works deputy director of operations for Sumner, said during the Feb. 26 City Council study session.
Johnstone told The News Tribune about 20-30 vehicles use the dump station in a typical week. On the weekend about 70 vehicles use the station. He said the city does not always know what is being dumped there, and that can negatively impact the sewage treatment plant.
There is a pipe that connects the dump station to the sewage treatment plant. The contents that get dumped go through a mechanical and biological process at the plant, Johnstone said.
During the mechanical process, tangible items are removed. During the biological process, a community of “bugs” treat and clean the wastewater before it goes to the White River, Johnstone said.
Palmer said if something bad comes in from the dump station, such as grease from a food truck, it can throw off the balance of the microorganisms that treat and clean the wastewater.
“What we don’t want is to have an incident where untreated wastewater could be released from the treatment plant,” Johnstone said. “That’s not our goal, and that’s not being good stewards of our environment.”
Alternative RV dumping stations in Pierce County
An option is to turn the RV dump station into a hauled waste receiver station. The station would be secured with gates and fences. There would be a system in place to treat, process and monitor the contents that get dumped.
Johnstone said that would cost the city about $1.5 million, and it would cost about $200,000 per year to maintain. City staff suggests closing the station, which would cost about $15,000.
Council member Earle Stuard said during the City Council study session that the dump station should be closed as soon as possible because some people “abuse” it. He said residents who live nearby would be happy if it closed.
“I am all in favor of moving forward on this as quickly as possible,” Stuard said.
Council member Curt Brown said the same.
When asked what would happen to the site if the dump station closed, Johnstone said the city would do restoration work so that it does not look like an RV dump station.
As for alternatives, there are rest areas along Interstate 5 that have free RV dump stations. There is one about 7 miles north of Tacoma. Private dump stations generally cost $5-10 to use.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from a city spokesperson about why the city installed the dump station in 2015.
This story was originally published March 4, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
