Brightwater outfall construction to temporarily affect marine traffic from Everett to Shoreline

Construction activity on the largest Puget Sound clean water project in more than four decades will temporarily affect marine traffic from Everett to Shoreline beginning the evening of Sept. 7.

Boaters in the lower Snohomish River and nearby Puget Sound waters should expect short-term impacts to marine traffic as the installation of the Brightwater treatment plant’s 600-foot-deep marine outfall and twin mile-long pipes gets under way. 

On Sept. 7, tugboats are scheduled to tow the first of two mile-long pipelines down the Snohomish River from an assembly site at the Port of Everett and out past Jetty Island and the 10th Street Marina.  From there, larger tugboats will tow the pipeline through Port Gardener and south to Point Wells near Shoreline, where it is expected to arrive early Tuesday morning.

The second pipeline is scheduled to begin its trip down the Snohomish River a day later on the evening of Sept. 8.

At Point Wells, workers will first attach both of the floating pipes to a recently constructed on-shore connector and then lower the outfall pipe to the seafloor.  Work will continue around the clock at Point Wells until the installation of both outfall pipes is complete.
 
Because the work is dependent on weather and tidal conditions, scheduled dates and times could change.

Commercial and recreational boaters are advised to check the U.S. Coast Guard’s Local Notice to Mariners for District 13 on the Web at http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/lnm/d13/ (External link) for current information.  People may also contact the Brightwater 24-hour construction hotline at 206-205-5989 to request the current schedule.

Escort boats will be present during the tow to maintain a buffer zone.

When Brightwater begins operating in 2011, highly treated wastewater from the state-of-the-art plant will be discharged deep into Puget Sound waters.

The advanced membrane bioreactor technology at Brightwater will get the wastewater seven to 10 times cleaner than conventional treatment processes, treating nearly all the wastewater there to the state’s highest reclaimed water standards. Reclaimed water from Brightwater will be used for irrigation and industry, reducing the amount of effluent discharged to the outfall and supporting the state’s Puget Sound cleanup strategy.

King County selected the Brightwater outfall location after years of environmental review that included detailed study of Puget Sound oceanography and marine biology as well as an extensive permitting process involving state and federal agencies.
 
Editors note: Reporters and photographers can arrange assembly site visits and pre-tow briefing by calling Annie Kolb-Nelson at 206-263-6157.

People enjoy clean water and a healthy environment because of King County's wastewater treatment program. The county’s Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 17 cities, 17 local sewer districts and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Formerly called Metro, the regional clean-water agency now operated by King County has been preventing water pollution for more than 40 years.

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Note to editors and reporters: Visit the WTD Newsroom, a portal to information for the news media about the Wastewater Treatment Division, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/newsroom/.

Related Information

Brightwater Treatment Plant

King County Wastewater Treatment Division