School's septic snafu sparks suit

Bathroom and kitchen facilities at a multi-purpose building for a Sutter County school can't be legally used because of defects in an engineering firm's design of a septic system, a school district says in a lawsuit.

Nuestro School District in Live Oak said Sutter County's Department of Environmental Health told school officials in January that the septic tank was located within 100 feet of the school district's water well.

The septic tank was also too small to meet county requirements, Nuestro said Sutter County advised them.

Nuestro seeks $108,435 from Dauwalder Engineering in the breach of contract lawsuit filed last month in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Dauwalder Engineering could not be reached for comment.

The engineering firm in 2005 represented plans for the septic system as adequate for the multi-purpose building, according to Nuestro's lawsuit.

Irwin Karp, principal and superintendent for Nuestro, said bathrooms at the multi-purpose room are locked but that basketball games are played in the multi-purpose facility that opened a year ago.

Sutter County has informed Nuestro that final approval of the multi-purpose room awaits upgrading of the sewage disposal system.

Kitchen facilities cannot be used for distributing or preparing food until county approval, Jeff Williams, environmental health division chief, told the school earlier this year.

Karp said any judgment the school district may receive in its legal action has to be paid to the state because of funds Nuestro has received from the State Allocation Board to remedy problems with the septic tank for the multi-purpose building.

"I've been working with the state for a year," he said.

Funds totaling $108,435 were awarded in October to Nuestro for work on the school's septic system.

The improvements are expected to be completed within days, Karp said.

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmc carthy@appeal-democrat.com