This version corrects the number of times the Vashon plant has been honored for perfect performance. It is four times, not one, as previously indicated.
By Craig Groshart for The Beachcomber
The Vashon Wastewater Treatment Plant is perfect — according to the performance requirements of the State Department of Ecology (DOE), that is.
The plant is one of 127 such operations throughout the state recently recognized for perfect performance by the DOE. The plant passed all environmental tests, analyzed all samples, turned in all state-required reports and avoided permit violations during 2014.
It is the fourth time the plant has been recognized for such an award.
“The talents of our professional operators are critical to successful plant operations and protecting the health of Washington’s waters,” said Heather Bartlett, manager of Ecology’s Water Quality program.
Ecology devised the annual awards program as an incentive for compliance, calling wastewater treatment plant operations the first line of defense to protect public health and water quality in lakes, rivers and Puget Sound.
When the awards program began in 1995, only 14 treatment plants had perfect compliance.
On Vashon, lab manager and operator Greg Burnham noted he, too, was pleased to receive the award. Running the plant is a team effort, he added, and requires engineers, mechanics, electricians, instrument technicians and process analysts.
Burham added that he prefers to call the plant The Experienced Water Project.
“It comes in as sewage and leaves clean,” he said. “Water is finite resource, and it’s been round and round the planet. We just intercept it and put it out in the sound once it is clean.”
Approximately 180,000 gallons a day of wastewater is treated at the Vashon facility, which includes multiple steps that use micro-organisms — referred to as bugs in the industry — as well as oxygen, settling and ultraviolet light to turn brown, murky water into a clear liquid. A maximum of 1.4 million gallons per day can be treated during the rain/storm season.
It all starts with a screen to separate out items (towels, clothing, etc.) that can’t be broken down in the treatment process. After that, it’s up to thousands of microscopic bugs in a large, racetrack-like vat of stirred and swirling water to use oxygen not only to eat the waste, but also multiply for future treatment. It takes about 28 days for the bugs to do their job.
After that, the wastewater goes on to a clarifier where the bugs settle out. The final step is treating the water with ultraviolet light to kill anything that isn’t wanted in Puget Sound.
The process is monitored through test samples taken four days a week that compares how much “food” is coming into the plant with how much is going out. The goal is no suspended solids.
The facility is part of King County’s regional wastewater treatment system and treats wastewater from homes and businesses within the Vashon Sewer District. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is staffed by one full-time operator. Technicians from the county’s South Treatment Plant in Renton support the operation.
The Vashon Sewer District contracted with King County in 1999 to take over operation of the Vashon Treatment Plant. King County constructed a new treatment plant in 2006 next to the existing treatment plant on Southwest 171st. St.
King County voters approved a regional wastewater treatment service in 1958 to clean the wastewater being generated from the developing cities. Metro became the organization to build and manage the system and was later merged with King County.
