The council recently put off approving six plats involving four developments with more than 200 homes. Councilman Vincent Liddiard questioned whether the current sewer system could serve that many units at the city's south end.

"I have extreme doubts as to whether we can continue to grow at this rate given limitations on sewer," he said. "If we don't take action now, we're going to have a problem."

The city already is struggling with water issues in the wake of a massive well failure that has forced residents to water their yards two days a week on a prescribed schedule.

Liddiard said he didn't want to add to those burdens.

"We don't want to have to tell people, 'You can water on these days and flush your toilet these days,' '' he said.

Instead of approving the developments, the council requested solid information on the number of homes the current sewer system can serve. Liddiard and Councilwoman Heather Jackson said they have heard conflicting reports. Some say there is only enough space to handle 100 new homes.

That could become a problem, because City Administrator John Hendrickson said perhaps as many as 500 new units were already approved - and aren't affected by the moratorium - before the additional 200 came to the table.

"We decided to take a step back and postpone these projects while we get a number of where we're at and what is actually coming in and still needs capacity," Jackson said. "It would be silly to approve something you won't be able to give capacity to."

Hendrickson said the city is trying to provide immediate additional capacity by tweaking the current system to improve efficiency.

But the city has waited more than three years for a new wastewater system to come online - and it has another 18 months to wait.

Liddiard fears slight immediate additions might not fill the city's needs all the way into spring 2009, when he expects that new plant to come online.

"We haven't turned a spoonful of dirt at this point," he said.

Hendrickson said the plant processes about 250,000 gallons per day from about 1,500 homes - putting the facility near capacity. When the new plant comes online, he expects the system to handle 2,600 additional homes.

Meanwhile, Liddiard is worried about the way the city plans to pay for the new plant. He wants to increase one-time connection fees, rather than raising ongoing user fees for everyone.

"Why add burden on the people who already have capacity, just for new homes?" Liddiard said. "This should be pretty easy math, and we shouldn't say, 'Hey, do you want to pay for someone else to access the sewer system?' ''

sgehrke@sltrib.com