POULSBO — Residents in Little Norway might be forced to “get off the pot” unless the city improves its sewage system before 2011.

That, in a manner of speaking, was what City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak told the city council’s public works committee Wednesday night.

“We have had a lot of infiltration into our system,” Kasiniak said. “We are proposing to spend $20,000 a year to deal with inflow and infiltration.”

The combination of inflow and infiltration into the city’s sewer system has reduced its overall capacity, but cost-effective steps can be taken to resolve the problem, he said.

“We did a project on 6th Avenue that got us 15 percent more capacity,” Kasiniak said, referring to an inflow reduction project completed in 2002.

Poulsbo’s sewer system in the area around the city’s downtown core or central region was constructed in 1931, and many of those pipes are concrete or clay, which are prone to inflow and infiltration problems, he said.

By resolving those issues, the city should be able to gain the necessary capacity without spending millions of dollars on other capital improvement projects, he said.

Along with the inflow and infiltration improvements, Kasiniak said the council needs to be aware that sewer rates may need to be raised by 5 percent in 2009.

“We did one in 2003,” Councilman Ed Stern. “Finally the council bit the bullet and did it for water and sewer.”

Kasiniak said another 5 percent hike could be necessary in 2010 as well.

“The last time we went through this, the council suggested we should not hoist such a big burden on people,” Stern said.

To that end, Councilman Jeff McGinty suggested a 3 percent increase might be more palatable to both the council and residents.

In response, Kasiniak said a 1 percent boost in 2008, followed by similar increases in 2009 and 2010 might provide the requisite funding. The 5 percent increase would pencil out at about $2.50 per customer each month based on the city’s current sewer rate of $52, Kasiniak said.

Since the city is growing exponentially, Stern asked Kasiniak if there was anything that might accelerate the necessity of the rate increases.

“The only two accelerators would be a 200-300 room hotel at Olhava or something at the school district,” Councilman Mike Regis said.

Unless a project currently has final plat approval, it will take three or four years before any sewer connections are made, Regis said.

Coming down the pipe

Another issue with far greater financial impacts suggested by Kasiniak and the city’s consultant, Parametrix, is the eventual extension of the Lemolo siphons to provide capacity necessary to meet the city’s needs in 2025.

“Currently, the siphons can handle 2.4 million gallons a day,” he said. “We need to increase the capacity to 4.7 million gallons a day, which is what we need in 2025.”

Under the existing agreement with Kitsap County, the city would be responsible for the entire cost of the extension, since Poulsbo contributes 100 percent of the flows through the siphons, he said.

As part of the analysis of the city’s sewer system, Kasiniak said the consultant examined the possibility of installing a sewer line along Viking Avenue around the west side of Liberty Bay.

“The estimated cost (of that option) was $52 million,” Kasiniak told the committee.

In addition to the high cost, Regis said that project would create the need for increased density in that area to offset the burden on the city’s sewer customers.

“That would create the city of Keyport, and I don’t think the county would go for that,” Regis said.