Our crews are on the job 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure the region’s wastewater treatment service – and that remains true as we move into the rainy season. Workers are ready to respond around the clock and work hard to be well-prepared for stormy weather or an emergency. To make sure we’re ready…
Our relationship to water is what makes this region special. King County is a partner in this relationship. Regional wastewater treatment plays a key role in keeping our rivers, lakes, streams, and the Puget Sound clean for people and aquatic life. We manage a big regional wastewater system that needs regular inspection, maintenance, and upgrades…
Since 2016, our utility’s education team has partnered with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to lead the Clean Water Ambassador youth internship program. This summer the program returned as a hybrid experience, online learning mixed with in-person field trips, to learn about water systems, sustainability, watershed ecology, climate change and ways to take action…
King County is committed to protecting water quality and reducing harm to fish and aquatic life in Puget Sound’s shallow bays caused by human sources of nitrogen. The Department of Natural Resources and Parks supports a science-based approach that capitalizes on innovation and technology and focuses public resources where they can make a real difference.…
King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) is being recognized for its commitment to sustainable communities and the environment. WTD’s Sunset / Heathfield Pump Stations and force main upgrade project was awarded an Envision® Silver Award this month for project sustainability. This is the second Envision-certified project for the region’s wastewater utility. In 2018, King County’s…
The West Point Treatment Plant processes about 100 million gallons of wastewater each day, and up to 440 million gallons during heavy rains. While the plant’s operators are working hard to keep the treatment process flowing smoothly, a momentary lapse of power supply quality can bring vital equipment operations to a hard stop. That’s why in February 2021, King County Executive Dow Constantine signed an emergency declaration and the King County Council authorized up to $65 million to provide West Point with more reliable power. The team…
Our employees plan, design, build, and operate treatment facilities to clean wastewater for the region. Planning and building new wastewater infrastructure is complex. It can easily take a decade or more to go from identifying a project is needed, to cutting the ribbon on a newly completed facility. Each project goes through several phases of…
Wastewater treatment workers are essential frontline workers you may not have immediately thought about during the pandemic. Like other critical government workers, they can’t do their jobs from home, so during 2020 they had to adjust many of the ways they worked in order to protect their own health and prevent the spread of the…
The employees who inspect and monitor all of the structures and pipes within the regional sewer system have a big job to do – with over 380 miles of sewer pipes to check, spread out over 424 square miles. The Conveyance Inspection and Flow Monitoring (CIFM) group uses instruments and equipment to see what’s happening…
King County’s Coal Creek Sewer Upgrade Project team is reaching out in summer 2021 to hear from people who care about accessible recreation.
What is happening A nationwide shortage of sodium hypochlorite – a chlorine compound and disinfectant in common household bleach and the primary disinfectant in our wastewater treatment process – triggered by a supply-chain disruption, is impacting wastewater treatment operations throughout the Northwest, including King County. Like several other utilities in the region, our staff is conserving the disinfectant while we try to…
