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RWSP 2007 annual report

September 2008

Executive summary

Ordinance 15384 and King County Code 28.86.165 require that the King County Executive submit a yearly report to the King County Council on implementation of the Regional Wastewater Services Plan (RWSP). The RWSP outlines a number of important projects, programs, and policies for the county's Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) to implement through 2030. View full report

The following text summarizes the 2007 RWSP annual report.

• Providing Needed Capacity in the Regional System
• Building and Operating Local Treatment Plants
• Creating Resources from Wastewater
• Protecting Water Quality and Complying with Regulations
• Being a Good Neighbor
• Tracking Costs

Providing needed capacity in the regional system

The RWSP calls for the construction of a new regional treatment plant and conveyance system by the year 2010 to provide additional capacity for projected population growth in the northern portion of King County's wastewater service area. This system, called the Brightwater System, is currently under construction. It will consist of a treatment plant in Snohomish County just north of the City of Woodinville and approximately 14 miles of pipelines constructed in underground tunnels in north King County.

RWSP policies further direct WTD to use the 20-year peak flow storm as the design standard for its separated conveyance system to avoid sanitary overflows and ensure there is sufficient capacity in the regional conveyance system to accommodate projected population growth.

Brightwater system

King County made substantial progress on the Brightwater project in 2007. Over 98 percent of the construction contracts have been awarded. The project is a few months behind schedule. Major construction is scheduled to be completed in early 2011, and the plant will start treating wastewater in May 2011.

King County continues to place a high priority on involving stakeholders and members of the public in the project. In 2007, over 30 meetings and briefings with residents, community leaders, and groups were held, and information booths were set up at several community events.

Brightwater Treatment Plant site

Construction, design, and contracting for the treatment plant and associated facilities continued in 2007. Grading and site preparation activities that started in mid-2006 were completed, and earth and concrete work for foundations for the grit, headworks, and primary structures was initiated. Other work included design of treatment plant instrumentation and controls and award of construction contracts for the solids/odor control facilities. Also in 2007, King County obtained building permits for the plant site and made a mitigation payment of $17.5 million to Snohomish County that was used to purchase approximately 145 acres of habitat and recreational land in the vicinity of the site.

Progress was made on implementing mitigation measures at the treatment plant site. Construction of the North Habitat Area occurred during the year. This 40-acre area now includes native wildlife habitat, restored salmon streams, trails, and boardwalks. In addition, WTD obtained the building permit for the Environmental Education/Community Center, and the Washington State Legislature awarded a $675,000 grant to the Friends of Hidden River, a Bothell non-profit group, to help cover final architectural design and sustainable design features of the center.

Brightwater conveyance system

Three tunnel boring machines were launched in 2007 for construction of the East and Central Tunnels of the Brightwater conveyance system. Construction of the launching shaft for the West Tunnel continued during the year. Other Brightwater conveyance work included award of construction contracts for the Marine Outfall and the Influent Pump Station and construction of the connecting pipe between the Influent Pump Station and the North Creek Pump Station.

Non-Brightwater conveyance

The Conveyance System Improvement Program Update, completed in 2007, identifies projects to meet projected capacity needs through 2050. During the update process, King County worked closely with the Metropolitan Water Pollution Abatement Advisory Committee (MWPAAC) and with individual local agencies (see Note 1). The update recommended that checks and balances be performed, including periodic systematic flow monitoring, field verification, and regular program updates, to update flow projections and avoid overbuilding the system. It also recommended evaluation of demand management methods, such as infiltration and inflow reduction, to meet identified conveyance needs (see Note 2).

WTD completed construction of the Fairwood Interceptor during the year. Three other conveyance projects under construction in 2007--the force main for the Bellevue Pump Station Upgrade project, the Hidden Lake Pump Station and Sewer Improvement project, and the Juanita Bay Pump Station Replacement project--will be completed in 2008. Work also included final design of the North Creek Interceptor Improvement project.

In keeping with RWSP policy amendments, WTD is taking a phased approach in the planning for new projects. The four components of the Kent/Auburn Conveyance Systems Improvements project will be constructed in two phases, one scheduled for completion in 2011 and the other by 2015. The Black Diamond Infrastructure Upgrade project will also be implemented in two phases. The first phase--construction of a storage facility--is expected to be completed by 2013. Planning for the second phase will incorporate outcomes from development of the storage facility. This phase, which could be completed by 2020, may include larger conveyance facilities, a satellite treatment facility, or both.

Infiltration and inflow (I/I)--clean stormwater and groundwater that enters local sewer systems--takes up capacity in the King County regional conveyance and treatment systems and, along with population growth and other factors, drives the need to build additional capacity. The RWSP calls for improvements to reduce levels of I/I into local collection systems. The Executive's Recommended Regional Infiltration and Inflow Control Program, approved in May 2006 by the King County Council via adoption of Motion 12292, directs the county to work with local agencies to implement two to three initial projects to test the effectiveness of I/I reduction. Activities in 2007 included completing interlocal agreements with host jurisdictions; selecting consultants for predesign and sewer system evaluation surveys (SSES); and starting SSES, predesign, and flow monitoring work. In 2008, WTD, in conjunction with MWPAAC's Engineering and Planning Subcommittee, will use the results of this analysis to select the initial projects. It is hoped that the projects will help determine whether and under what conditions it is possible to cost-effectively remove enough I/I from the collection system to delay, reduce, or eliminate some otherwise needed regional conveyance system improvement projects.

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Building and operating local treatment plants

At the request of the Vashon Sewer District and the City of Carnation, and in accordance with RWSP policies, King County extended its wastewater service area to meet specific public health needs and to help manage the environmental impacts of growth in these communities.

Since 1999, King County has managed and operated the Vashon Treatment Plant for the Vashon Sewer District. The county upgraded the treatment plant to expand capacity and meet permit limitations. The upgraded plant was brought online late in 2006 and is operating well. An open house for the community was held in May 2007.

In 2002, the City of Carnation contracted with King County to design, build, and operate a new wastewater treatment plant. By the end of 2007, the treatment plant was 75 percent complete. The plant began operating in May 2008. During startup, the plant will discharge to the Snoqualmie River. After startup and permit approvals, the effluent will meet Class A reclaimed water standards and will be beneficially used to enhance a wetland in the Chinook Bend Natural Area.

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Creating resources from wastewater

WTD continues to find beneficial uses for byproducts from wastewater treatment--biosolids and digester gas from the solids treatment process and reclaimed water from the liquids treatment process.

Biosolids recycling

Highlights of Biosolids Program activities and achievements during the year are as follows:

• Approximately 108,000 wet tons of biosolids were produced in 2007, all of which was recycled as soil amendment for forestry and agricultural applications and to make compost.
• Influent screens at West Point are being upgraded to comply with new amendments to the Washington State rule for biosolids management.
• WTD participated in a study on the fate and degradation of endocrine-disrupting compounds in land-applied biosolids. Other research projects are being planned for 2008.
• The program was awarded the Platinum Level designation from the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) for reaching the highest achievement of biosolids management and environmental stewardship. WTD's program is certified into NBP's environmental management system program (EMS).

The Biosolids Program is planning in 2008 to move toward gaining certification through an International Standards Organization (ISO 14001) EMS instead of the NBP certification. The ISO will allow for certification of WTD's overall program and for other individual components of the program in addition to the solids and biosolids component.

Reclaimed water

WTD continues to produce and use reclaimed water at the West Point and South plants. Progress was made in 2007 on agreements and approvals to extend the reclaimed water distribution line from South plant so that it can serve the City of Tukwila's Foster Golf Links in addition to currently providing water to the city's Fort Dent Park and the King Conservation District Wetland Nursery.

In keeping with RWSP policy, new treatment plants are incorporating production and distribution of reclaimed water into their designs. Both the Brightwater and Carnation plants will use membrane bioreactor technology to produce reclaimed-quality water. Work was under way in 2007 to install reclaimed water pipelines west of Brightwater as part of the Brightwater conveyance tunnel construction, and planning, design, and permitting took place for the distribution pipes that will serve users south of the plant. WTD will enter into an agreement with the City of Bothell to study the feasibility of providing reclaimed water to the city from Brightwater. For the Carnation project, enhancements to the wetland in the Chinook Bend Natural Area and a distribution pipeline from the plant to the wetland were completed in 2007.

WTD completed a reclaimed water feasibility study to meet the provisions of RWSP Water Reuse Policy 2. The study included reviews of reclaimed water technologies, revenue sources, and markets, and of the environmental and regional benefits of reclaimed water. Among other findings, the study found that reclaimed water is an effective wastewater management tool that can help to better protect Puget Sound and improve the environment. It recommended that a comprehensive plan be developed to help determine the future of the county's reclaimed water program. In November 2007, the King County Council approved the development of the comprehensive reclaimed water plan in the 2008 budget. It is expected that the King County Executive will transmit a final plan in 2011 for council consideration and approval.

King County also entered into an agreement with the Covington Water District to jointly study the feasibility of developing reclaimed water facilities and completed a preliminary analysis of reclaimed water options in the Green River Valley.

Energy generation from digester gas

Digester gas--energy-rich methane gas produced during solids treatment--is used at the West Point and South plants to produce power and heat for plant processes and buildings. The remaining gas produced at South plant is "scrubbed" and sold to the local natural gas utility. As the result of a two-year fuel cell demonstration project completed at South plant in 2006, WTD is considering the use of a small fuel cell installation at the plant to produce electricity from digester gas. Also, final design is in progress for new cogeneration engines at West Point that will use additional digester gas to help power and heat the plant.

Plans are under way to provide facilities at the new Brightwater plant for research of potential technologies for producing alternative forms of energy from digester gas. Design of the Energy Technology Demonstration Facility is expected to be complete in 2008. The facility will provide a versatile platform for researchers and manufacturers to beta test a wide variety of equipment.

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Protecting water quality and complying with regulations

RWSP reporting policies require a summary in the annual reports of WTD's water quality management programs and its compliance with the Endangered Species Act and other agency regulations and agreements. WTD manages several programs to protect and preserve water quality, including wastewater treatment, combined sewer overflow control, sediment management, and source control.

The policies also require the inclusion of a report on the results of the water quality monitoring program, which measures water and sediment quality near WTD outfalls and facilities and compares the results with measurements in other areas in the same water bodies. The 2007 report, included as an appendix to the 2007 RWSP annual report, indicates that the quality of marine and fresh waters in King County is fair to good, with a slight decrease in quality from 2006 results in some localized areas.

Treatment plants

Effluent from King County's treatment plants must meet National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements and Washington State Water Quality Standards. The quality of treated effluent from its three secondary plants remained high in 2007, despite an unusually intense storm in December that sent record flows through South plant. Both the South and West Point plants earned the National Association of Clean Water Agencies Gold Peak Performance Award for achieving 100 percent NPDES permit compliance for an entire calendar year. In addition, both plants received the Platinum Peak Performance Award for multiple years of consecutive gold performance. The Vashon plant experienced no permit violations this year--the first full year of operation of the upgraded plant.

Because of the intense storm in December, the number of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) was higher than the previous years. Of the 32 SSOs or permit deviations, such as disinfection failures, reported for the year, 17 occurred during this storm. All NPDES permit limitations were met despite these occurrences.

CSO control and sediment management

King County's combined sewer overflow (CSO) facilities are regulated through West Point's NPDES permit. WTD also submits a report to the Washington State Department of Ecology each year on annual CSO volumes and frequencies and on progress made to control its CSOs (see Note 3).

Almost 20 years of data demonstrate progress toward the control goal. As of May 2007, about 13 of King County's 38 CSOs are controlled. Five other CSOs--all part of the Mercer/Elliott West and Henderson/Norfolk CSO control systems that came online in 2005--are expected to achieve control after startup adjustments and modifications are made to these systems. Control status will be confirmed in the hydraulic model recalibration that is under way. The remaining 20 uncontrolled CSOs will meet state standards as projects listed in the RWSP are completed between 2013 and 2030.

Four of the RWSP CSO control projects are under way. Project planning and predesign for these projects, collectively called the Puget Sound Beach projects, began in 2007. Construction is expected to begin in 2011 and end in 2013. Another CSO at the Ballard Regulator Station, scheduled in the RWSP to be controlled in 2029, will be brought under control in 2011 through the Ballard Siphon Replacement project. Other accomplishments of the CSO Control Program in 2007 include the start of a pilot program to assess CSO treatment technologies for future CSO control projects and the launching of a Web site that provides real-time overflow status of county CSO locations.

To meet RWSP policies, WTD is carrying out a sediment management plan developed in the late 1990s to remediate contaminated sediment near CSO outfalls. Most of the contamination is from the first half of the twentieth century. Since completion of the sediment management plan, King County has been partnering with other agencies on sediment management in the Duwamish Waterway under two federal Superfund projects: the Harbor Island and the Lower Duwamish Waterway projects.

Work on three projects in the sediment management plan is under way--cleanup of the Denny Way and Hanford/Lander CSOs and development of a model to better predict the fate and transport of contamination. In mid 2007, design was completed for the Denny Way cleanup. King County dredged and capped the area in November 2007-February 2008. Work also began on cleanup of the Hanford/Lander CSOs as part of Harbor Island Superfund project. Sediment in front of the Lander CSO will be remediated in winter 2008-2009.

The draft remedial investigation for the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site was released for public review in November 2007 and is expected to be completed in 2008. The feasibility study, which will identify cleanup alternatives, will be completed in 2009. The county is participating in two early action sites--the Diagonal/Duwamish CSO/Storm Drain and Slip 4 CSO--to clean up portions of the site earlier than required. The cleanup at Diagonal/Duwamish was completed in 2004. Post-remediation monitoring is providing critical information that can be used for determining cleanup alternatives for the Superfund site. In early 2007, source control sampling from areas upland to Slip 4 indicated that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were still entering the storm drains that discharge to the slip. Cleanup was put on hold until contamination can be adequately controlled.

Source control

King County operates two source control programs: the Industrial Waste Program and the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program. Both programs work to control pollutants at their source, thereby keeping them out of the wastewater system and, in turn, out of surface waters and the environment.

In 2007, 128 permits and 310 industrial waste discharge approvals were in effect, 405 inspections were conducted, and 29 Notices of Violation were issued. The Industrial Waste Program inspected 89 dental offices in 2007 as part of its nationally prominent program to reduce mercury discharges to sewers. Industrial Waste continued to participate in source control efforts in the Lower Duwamish Waterway, including sampling and analysis of industrial waste discharges and rainfall for contaminants such as phthalates, and began work on the East Waterway source control project.

In 2007, the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program collected 2,998 tons of household hazardous waste from more than 69,950 customers and spurred the collection and appropriate disposal or recycling of at least 105 pounds of mercury through its EnviroStars program, collection of fluorescent bulbs and tubes, and other activities. In addition to collecting household hazardous wastes, program staff partnered with others to provide residents and businesses with information about ways to reduce the use of toxic and hazardous materials. Also in 2007, the program started implementing its 2006 strategic plan, which places increasing emphasis on eliminating the inclusion of the most problematic chemicals in commercial or consumer products, reducing the use of hazardous materials in sensitive environmental areas, and allocating more resources in order to reduce the exposure of the most vulnerable and historically underserved populations to toxic materials.

Endangered Species Act compliance

WTD consults with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Services"), as required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), on projects that require a federal permit or receive federal funding. In 2007, WTD continued to work on a technical memorandum on the impact of reclaimed water use on ESA-listed species. The memorandum will serve as a resource for any future King County reclaimed water projects that require environmental review and Section 7 consultations.

In addition, King County scientists continue to track studies on the presence and effects of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) and other persistent microconstituents to keep up-todate on new findings. The county's environmental laboratory is investigating new analytical methods for the complex testing of some of these chemicals. Sampling for 15 suspected EDCs in the county's marine and fresh waters found low levels of five types of EDCs. The April 2007 report titled Survey of Endocrine Disruptors in King County Surface Waters describes these findings in detail.

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Being a good neighbor

In all its projects, WTD strives to minimize adverse effects of its facilities on the surrounding community through facility design features, construction best practices, and responsiveness to community input. RWSP policies direct WTD to employ stringent odor control at existing and new facilities.

Odor control

The RWSP includes policies to guide King County in achieving its goal of preventing and controlling nuisance odor occurrences at all wastewater treatment plants and associated conveyance facilities. The policies also call for implementation of an odor prevention program that goes beyond traditional odor control.

The policies require retrofitting existing treatment and conveyance facilities. Retrofitting work done so far includes the following:

• At the West Point plant, the division channel was covered in 2005 and the odor scrubber system was modified in 2007. Since these modifications were made, the amount of fugitive odors escaping from the system has greatly decreased. In 2008, WTD will evaluate the effects of these improvements and determine if they meet the odor control goal for existing facilities.
• At South plant, installation of the covers for each first pass of the four aeration basins and of covers for the return activated sludge channel began in 2006 and was substantially complete in 2007. Work is anticipated to be complete second quarter 2008.
• Thirteen projects have been identified to improve odor control in the county conveyance system. The first project--at the Hidden Lake Pump Station--is scheduled to be completed in 2008.

RWSP policy directs the county to construct odor control systems for new regional treatment plants that meet the "best in the country for new facilities" level, as described in Attachment A to Ordinance 14712. Brightwater's odor control system was designed to ensure there are no detectable odors at the property line for the treatment plant. Site preparation for the Brightwater solids/odor control facilities was completed and the construction contract for these facilities was awarded in 2007.

Public involvement

In accordance with RWSP public involvement policies, WTD works with local jurisdictions, affected residents and businesses, and permitting and regulatory agencies during the planning, environmental review, design, and construction of its projects to ensure its facilities are good neighbors. Public involvement activities associated with the capital projects discussed in the 2007 RWSP annual report include community meetings, informational booths, up-to-date Web sites, 24-hour construction hotlines, newsletters, bulletins, and press releases.

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Tracking costs

The 2007 cost estimate for implementing RWSP projects and programs through 2030 is approximately $3.26 billion, an increase of about $57 million, or 1.8 percent, from the 2006 cost estimate. The majority of this difference is attributed to increases in the cost of materials and commodities and to necessary project modifications.

Nearly one-fourth of the 2007 RWSP cost estimate represents planning-level costs. Planning-level cost estimates are based on generic facility concepts. The accuracy of a project's cost estimate will increase as the project progresses through the project life cycle. Costs for projects in planning can have a rough order-of-magnitude estimate in the range of -50 to +100 percent (See Note 4 and Note 5). By the time a project enters the construction phase, estimates typically narrow to a range of -10 to + 15 percent.

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Table of contents

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RWSP 2007 Annual Report, September 2008
Download the entire report (6.6MB)

Transmittal Letter

Table of contents
Cover, Title page
Executive Summary
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Brightwater Facilities
Chapter 3. Conveyance System Improvements
Chapter 4. Infiltration and Inflow
Chapter 5. Combined Sewer Overflow Control
Chapter 6. Local Treatment Plants
Chapter 7. Odor Control Program
Chapter 8. Biosolids Program
Chapter 9. Reclaimed Water
Chapter 10. RWSP Cost Estimates
Chapter 11. Water Quality Management and Compliance
Appendix A. 2007 Summary of Odor Complaints
Appendix B. RWSP Project Reports (2.3MB)
Appendix C. The Health of Our Waters, Water Quality Monitoring Results for 2007 (1.7MB)

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