King County made good progress in 2004 on a 30-year plan to operate, site and build public facilities that carry, treat and recycle wastewater from the growing number of people in the region. The successes are described in the 2004 Annual Report for the Regional Wastewater Services Plan, delivered to the King County Council this week.

"We are continuing to implement the plan on schedule and have many successes to report," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "We are making good progress toward carrying out the plan."

Sims reports yearly on the status of carrying out the plan, which the County Council adopted in 1999 to protect public health and the environment.

The plan describes improvements needed to increase capacity of facilities operated by the county's Wastewater Treatment Division. It also covers improvements to reduce leaks of clean water into the system, control overflows of combined stormwater and wastewater, and recycle the solid and liquid byproducts of the treatment process.

Here are highlights of major accomplishments in 2004:

1. King County completed predesign for the future Brightwater wastewater facilities to serve north King County and south Snohomish County. It also applied for many required permits and began preparing for final design and construction, to begin in 2006. The Brightwater public involvement process was recognized with two awards, and a Brightwater project office was opened at the plant site north of Woodinville in October.
2. The county completed two wastewater construction projects: a 6-million-gallon underground storage facility in Bothell to hold excess wastewater and reduce overflows, and a large interceptor sewer that carries wastewater from the Eastside to the county's South Treatment Plant in Renton. Construction began for a pump station in the city of Pacific. And design work continued on major improvements to a wastewater interceptor pipe in Kenmore and wastewater pump stations in or near Shoreline, Kirkland, Bellevue and Kent.
3. The county continued to recycle 100 percent of its biosolids, the nutrient-rich organic byproduct of wastewater treatment. King County produced more than 120,000 wet tons of biosolids, all of which was recycled for use in agriculture, forestry and compost.
4. The county evaluated the effectiveness of pilot projects built in 2003 to cut the amount clean water that enters the wastewater system through cracked pipes, storm drains and manholes. The report on unwanted water infiltration and inflow found that a coordinated effort by King County and local sewer agencies could successfully identify, target and control problems.
5. The county's program to control combined sewer overflows in Seattle successfully cleaned up contaminated sediment at a 7-acre area in the Lower Duwamish Waterway. More than 60,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed from the river bottom in the Duwamish industrial area and replaced with clean sediment and rock.
6. As part of its program to reclaim water from its treatment plants, the county began a project to supply reclaimed water to the Sammamish Valley from the future Brightwater Treatment Plant. The county is evaluating markets for this reclaimed water and began predesign for the initial core pipeline system. To save water, the county also provided funds to retrofit 824 units of the King County Housing Authority with water-conserving appliances.

More information about the regional plan, programs and projects is available on the Web site of the county's Wastewater Treatment Division.

The division serves 17 cities, 17 local sewer agencies and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Formerly known as Metro, the regional wastewater-treatment utility has been preventing water pollution for 40 years.

Updated: March 17, 2005