New wastewater infrastructure projects connect communities to ‘green wave’ of jobs

Wafa Tafesh with King County Water and Land Resources Division talks with a community member during the Sustainability Symposium and Green Jobs Fair.

In 2022, as WTD was planning a storage tank facility to hold polluted water along the west side of the Duwamish River, the community was asked what they wanted out of this big, new King County infrastructure project. 

“The answer was jobs – specifically clean water jobs,” said Kristine Cramer, a community relations planner at WTD. “We heard that loud and clear in our surveys, and jobs were second only to neighborhood greening efforts. So, we took that as meaningful direction and considered how we could connect our capital projects to support living wage employment in the community.”   

Robinson Edwards, an operator at the West Point Treatment Plant, displays untreated wastewater during a breakout session at the Sustainability Symposium and Green Jobs Fair.

What came to be in the West Duwamish Wet Weather Storage Project was a community workforce development component within the project’s Equity and Social Justice Plan. As part of the plan, WTD and South Seattle College started a partnership that led to us cohosting a Sustainability Symposium and Green Jobs Fair at the college’s Georgetown campus in early March. More than 300 people attended, along with 20-plus employers in the sustainability field from the public and private sectors.    

Students from South Seattle College met with engineers and WTD staff during a tour of our Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station.

Local nonprofit organizations like Villa Comunitaria collaborated in the event to increase access to clean water career opportunities, especially among Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities.  

Chase Davis, a senior in the Sustainable Building Science Technology program at South Seattle College, said, “There is so much to learn here. It’s a good degree to get right now as this green wave is happening.”  

Davis and his fellow students from the program had their capstone projects on display and were available to discuss their findings. The focus of his project was comparing energy consumption before and after weatherization efforts, which resulted in lower utility bills. “This helps low-income clients where every dollar counts,” Davis said.  

Outside the Sustainability Symposium and Green Jobs Fair, members of the Wastewater Treatment Division’s Conveyance Team discuss the various tools they use to inspect the hundreds of miles of pipes around the region.

Drew Thompson, who manages WTD’s Sewer Heat Recovery Program spent the evening chatting with interested folks at the King County table. “There is a lot of passion and desire in the community to work in the sustainability field,” he said. “These are people who see the value of this work, not just for the monetary compensation but also for the environmental and community improvements.” 

Drew Thompson, center, manager of WTD’s Sewer Heat Recovery Program, helps field questions while at the King County table during the Sustainability Symposium and Green Jobs Fair.

Next up? WTD is participating in a job fair hosted by the Duwamish River Community Coalition on May 11, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at Concord International School. DRCC is working to connect youth and adults in South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods with job opportunities in the Duwamish Valley. 

WTD is committed to working with partners to building a green workforce for the region that is accessible to the many communities we serve so that environmental stewardship and community empowerment will last for generations.