Sims urges funding of Brightwater reclaimed water delivery system as climate change 'insurance'

Oct. 26, 2005

Sims urges funding of Brightwater reclaimed water delivery system as climate change 'insurance'

Building a reclaimed water-delivery system as part of the Brightwater regional wastewater treatment plant's initial construction phase makes good fiscal and environmental sense, particularly in light of expected shrinking water supplies resulting from global warming, said King County Executive Ron Sims.

In his 2006 budget request to the Metropolitan King County Council, Sims included a $26 million appropriation to construct a reclaimed water "backbone" that would be capable of delivering millions of gallons of Class A reclaimed water to customers throughout north and east King County. Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is perfect for irrigation, industrial cooling and other uses that don't need potable water.

Sims' plan comes on the eve of the sold-out King County Climate Change Conference, Thursday at the Qwest Field Conference Center in Seattle. More than 600 people from across the state have registered to attend the all-day conference, which features nationally recognized experts discussing all aspects of global warming and its anticipated impacts to the region. Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and governor of New Jersey, is the conference's keynote speaker.

"Climate change and global warming are already happening, and one of the very real possibilities that we could face in the not-so-distant future is a reduction of winter snowpacks, which will cut into our freshwater supplies that we rely on to deliver both drinking water and cool water for salmon," Sims said.

"Reclaimed water is perfect for outdoor irrigation and industrial water uses, such as facility cooling, and it allows existing water sources to be reserved for uses that require the highest possible quality, such as cooking and bathing," Sims said. "Reclaimed water is available year-round, even during dry summer months or when a drought strains other water supplies. Using reclaimed water also reduces impacts on rivers and streams, which will benefit endangered fish species and their habitats.

"An investment in the region's reclaimed water infrastructure today is really drought insurance for tomorrow," he said. "Buying this insurance policy now means we will avoid the higher prices that we know all new water supplies will have in the future."

"There are precious few sources of ‘new' water available to us, and reclaimed water is one of them," Sims said. "With the Brightwater's reclaimed water ‘backbone' in place, we will be able to deliver millions of gallons of treated water every day to customers in King and Snohomish counties."

Each year, the King County Wastewater Treatment Division already produces more than 350 million gallons of reclaimed water for landscape irrigation and industrial uses. That volume will increase dramatically after the Brightwater wastewater treatment plant comes online in 2010.

According to a recently released report by the Washington State Department of Ecology, a total of 17 reclaimed water facilities were operating statewide in 2004, and plans are under way for several more. Since 1992, state policy has strongly supported the development of reclaimed water sources as a new water supply. Nationally, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that reclaimed water use is growing by 15 percent per year, and more than half of the states have water reclamation facilities.

The Brightwater plant will be built near State Route 9 north of Woodinville to serve the growing population in north and east King and south Snohomish counties. When completed in 2010, the Brightwater plant will initially treat 36 million gallons of wastewater a day.

The entire base flow from Brightwater will be treated to the state's "Class A" reclaimed water standards, which is the highest classification the state has, and is suitable for all water uses, except drinking.

"Eventually, we will be able to make reclaimed water available to numerous customers in north and east King and south Snohomish counties through Brightwater's pipeline distribution system," he said. "We plan to make the investment now, and reap the benefits for decades to come."