After decades of planning, crews will be ready to move dirt on the Carlsborg sewer project by mid-April, Clallam County commissioners learned on Jan. 11.

Public Works Administrative Director Bob Martin said the $15.3 million project is on schedule to go out to bid in early February.

Commissioners are expected to open bids in early March, followed by a six-week review of the proposals.

Martin said the goal is to issue a notice to proceed to a contractor to break ground on or about April 15.

“That sounds like a solid timeline to me,” said first-year Commissioner Mark Ozias, whose district includes Carlsborg.

Clallam County will give the contractor 200 days to build a pump station and install a sewer connection pipe and underground pressure lines.

Wastewater will be pumped from Carlsborg to an existing treatment facility in Sequim.

Martin said the system should be up and running by February 2017.

Clallam County has been planning for a sewer in Carlsborg since the late 1980s. Failing septic systems have contributed to polluted groundwater in the loosely-soiled Dungeness Valley, county officials have said.

“One of the things that you should understand, and the public should understand, is that the cost of building this system is not being borne by the rate payers,” Martin told commissioners in their weekly work session. “So if the cost goes up, that’s not going to have any impact on the service fees.”

The bulk of the capital costs will be paid through a state loan, which will be paid back over time from the county’s Opportunity Fund.

The sales tax-supported Opportunity Fund supports infrastructure projects in rural areas.

Officials estimate that a residential customer who chooses to connect to the sewer will pay about $70 per month for the service.

Rob Ollikainen is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.