NEW ULM — Brown County Commissioners reluctantly approved a contract with the New Ulm Waste Treatment Plant (WWTP) to treat leachate produced by the Brown County Landfill Aug. 7.

Leachate is the liquid that drains from a landfill and has extracted, dissolved and suspended matter from it.

Brown County Landfill produces approximately 1.3 million gallons of leachate per year. Normally that was not a problem but Solid Waste Officer Laine Sletta explained the county’s recently received landfill permit only allows the county to apply untreated leachate to their existing sprayfield.

The remaining sprayfield cannot handle the balance of the leachate produced due to over loading the soil with water and constituents. Sletta said the current sprayfield can only handle 1 million gallons of leachate. The only alternative is to haul the remaining leachate to the New Ulm WWTP.

The disposal fee to send the leachate to the plant is five cents per gallon. The total disposal fee will be $20,000 on the estimate that 400,000 gallons will be hauled to New Ulm. This estimate does not include hauling costs.

Commissioner Scott Windschitl recommended contacting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to discuss alternative options. Windschitl said if the chemical could not be disposed of, they needed to find a way to stop producing it.

Commissioner Dennis Potter made the motion to approve the contract, but said he was only making the motion because there was no other option.

Commissioners unanimously approved the contract, but encouraged staff to contact the federal government regarding the issue.

In other news, commissioners approved the signing of a Joint Powers Agreement for the Brown-Lyon-Redwood-Renville Drug Task Force. The agreement includes the four county boards and sheriffs, the New Ulm, Redwood Falls and Marshall City Councils and Police chiefs and Lower Sioux police through its tribal council and police chief.

Sheriff Rich Hoffmann explained this is an ongoing agreement that is brought up for renewal whenever a change is made. The changes were related to insurance and indemnification.

Commissioners established a primary election canvass for 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 17; and the general election canvass for 8:15 a.m. Nov. 13 for the Elections Canvassing Board. The dates have been coordinated with the court administrator and New Ulm mayor.

Kerry Netzke of Area II Minnesota River Basin projects gave an update on project accomplishments. In Brown County, Area II is working on a grade stabilization project in the Leavenworth area. Most of the Area II projects were in Lyon, Redwood and Murray counties this year. Even though these projects were located outside of Brown County, they do have a local benefit.

Commissioner Potter said the projects north of Brown County do have a local impact because the water flows from those locations.

“If we can slow the water before it starts coming here, it helps us reduce flooding,” he said.

Netzke said it was more beneficial to everyone to conduct water projects up north in areas of higher elevation before the water comes down to the flatter region.

Commissioners approved the $12,971 annual membership with Area II.

Netzke also gave an update on the Redwood-Cottonwood Rivers Control Area (RCRCA). The commissioners approved the $10,050 annual membership levy. The RCRCA covers similar grounds at Area II. RCRCA’s budget is largely grant-driven, which is supplemented with $75,000 from the eight-county membership.