BEMIDJI — Bemidji State University hosted Northern Township for an Earth Day community information meeting about its planned wastewater treatment plant to protect Lake Bemidji.
Township Administrator Chris Lahn went over the last 50 years of regional aspirations to connect sewer services around the lake — which has had issues with fluctuating nutrient levels over the years — to move away from septic systems on the densely developed lake front.
Lahn pointed to the Lake Bemidji area’s sandy soils and high water table leading to area groundwater being particularly sensitive to septic system failures, with his research indicating nearly three-quarters of the septic systems around the lake are past their useful life of 25 years.
Many of the lots on the northern end of the lake are also of substandard sizes, with some drainage pipes for the existing septics crossing roadways and easing into neighboring properties.
Northern Township has operated a small wastewater treatment facility — the Waville plant that services a neighborhood on the southeast side of the lake — for about 25 years. This larger plant on the northeast side would eventually be expanded to wrap services around Northern Township’s side of Lake Bemidji.
“When you're improving a lake like Lake Bemidji, that is of such regional significance for people who live, work, play here, what have you, putting in sewer around the entire lake is going to be something that's just going to dramatically shape and improve the community for generations to come,” Lahn said.
This project began gaining steam in 2021, when Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge requested connection to Bemidji services due to its failing septic system. As a policy, Bemidji does not extend services without annexation. The year before, the township completed a 20-year orderly annexation agreement with the city, and Lahn summarized township residents’ appetite for further annexation as minimal.
Work on the wastewater plant is slated to begin in 2026, when Beltrami County completes its deferred resurfacing project on Birchmont Beach Road. The township secured more than $5 million in federal grants with the first phase expected to cost $12 million. The project is included in the state bonding bill, and if it passes, it would decrease the local burden and assessment amount.
Last week, the township took its first formal step to incorporate as its own city. After a 30-day waiting period following the notice, the Town of Northern will then petition the state to transform into a city government for its 3,800 residents.
