St. Joseph County officials are looking at the potential for connecting more Granger homes to sewers.
For more than a decade the county’s Soil and Water Conservation District has operated a sewer system in Granger. But it mainly serves businesses, piping their wastewater to Edwardsburg’s sewer treatment plant.
The county’s redevelopment commission recently hired a firm to study the system’s capacity to take on future residential subdivisions. For years county health officials have known that some Granger wells are contaminated by the close proximity of septic systems on the same lots.
Three years ago the new Hills at St. Joe Farm subdivision tied into the system, becoming Granger’s first with sewers. County Economic Development Executive Director Bill Schalliol said the county views that as a model.
"We've got this asset, how can we not keep repeating the same mistake of letting people develop on well and septic?" Schalliol said. "If we have this tool, and we get a new subdivision that were to come on line, does that put us near a capacity cap or anything like that?"
The county is paying Jones Petrie Rafinski $80,000 for the study, and they expect a report in February.
