This is Part 3 in a series about What Makes Us Civilized reflecting on the building blocks of our own community and the most important elements that we must get right.
The last flush. That bowl is empty. That glorious sound of a refilling reservoir was never missed so much. Sometimes you may be able to flush your toilet, but the city forbids it if the wastewater treatment plant is not operational.
Out of the question. Not quite. In fact, when I did my "Introductory Tour" of the city of Yukon, I found a true lack of redundancy in our wastewater treatment plant. Due to deferred maintenance over the prior decades, the plant had elements that were out of commission and others hanging on by a thread.
One estimate of the total spent on maintenance, repair and overhaul for the past 20 years was only $2 million. Woefully inadequate for a wastewater treatment plant processing upwards of 3 million gallons of sewage each and every day.
I rang the alarm — I was appalled.
Since that time, we have embarked on a generational effort to repair and expand our wastewater treatment facility. I was just there on Tuesday of this week and the team is hard at work. We will put back in order the redundant elements and expand the capacity of the plant from 3 million gallons per day to 4.5 million gallons.
To see what happens when things go wrong, look at Wagoner, Oklahoma. The city's wastewater plant has repeatedly failed inspections. The Oklahoma DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) found defects in its treatment process, broken pumps, failing headworks, and leaks of untreated or semi-treated waste into nearby creeks.
Though Wagoner hasn't officially issued a full "don't flush" order city-wide, residents have experienced de facto restrictions and warnings during emergencies, and the system has been overloaded to the point that the plant cannot properly treat sewage before discharge. The city was given deadlines by DEQ to make repairs or face legal or environmental consequences.
These aren't just technical failures. When a wastewater plant fails, it means toilets become risky, rivers become contaminated, and public health is endangered. It undermines trust in government, devalues property, and puts vulnerable people (young children, elderly, immunocompromised) at severe risk.
That's why in Yukon we can't afford watered-down maintenance, deferred repairs, or half-measures. The city is obligated to ensure that basic systems work every single day—civilization depends on it.