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Celebrating our award-winning treatment plants

By August 11, 2022June 1st, 2023No Comments

All five of King County’s wastewater treatment plants received 2021 National Association of Clean Water Agency’s (NACWA) Peak Performance Awards, honoring multiple consecutive years of compliance with state and federal effluent permit limits. Special congratulations go to Brightwater for earning its first Platinum award for five years of compliance – and to Vashon for Platinum with 11 years of compliance!

Aerial photos of the five treatment plants
Clockwise from top left: South Plant, Carnation, Vashon, Brightwater and West Point.

Additionally, our Vashon treatment plant received the 2021 Outstanding Performance awards from the Washington State Department of Ecology for meeting all state pollution limits, monitoring and reporting requirements, spill prevention planning, pretreatment, and operation demands outlined in their National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This is the fifth consecutive year the plant has won this award.

A group of 20 people stand in a conference room smiling at the camera
Our staff accepted the NACWA awards in-person at the Utility Leadership Conference in Seattle, WA.

Our operations staff are vital to achieving this high level of performance. They are on the front line of public safety and health and perform their jobs 24/7. Each day, King County treats and disinfects an average of 175 million gallons of wastewater for 2 million people in the greater Puget Sound region, and we could not do it without them!

A woman in an orange safety shirt, mask and goggles, holds up two containers of water, one labelled as "wastewater coming into plant" and the other "clean water leaving plant".
Our operations staff are vital to achieving top permit performance.