The launch of a hulking tunnel boring machine today as part of the Brightwater treatment plant construction project signifies the next phase in King County's ongoing commitment to environmental protection and to providing essential services to residents.

Bearing names such as "Helene" and "Luminita", four machines will eventually dig a tunnel up to 16 feet in diameter that runs 13 miles from Brightwater's south Snohomish County location north of Woodinville to the deepwater outfall off Point Wells in Puget Sound. The tunnel, to be completed under four separate contracts, is scheduled to be completed by fall 2010 at a construction cost of approximately $450 million.

"Brightwater represents King County's iron-clad dedication to planning for the future and to having the right services in place to keep our environment clean and our economy strong," said King County Executive Ron Sims.

The tunnel is part of the Brightwater system that will carry wastewater from about 250,000 homes and businesses in north King and south Snohomish counties to the Brightwater plant for treatment.

The tunnel will also hold the pipelines that will return exceptionally clean treated water to Puget Sound, plus pipelines that distribute reclaimed water produced at Brightwater for beneficial uses such as landscape irrigation and industrial uses.

"We remain committed to environmental protection and to providing vital public services that will serve our region and also be good neighbors," said King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, who helped launch the tunnel boring machine after a brief ceremony at the site of a tunnel portal.

Four machines will be launched separately from portals, which are access shafts for workers and equipment during the tunnel construction. The portals will also be used to retrieve the rigs once tunneling is completed, and provide maintenance access to the pipelines after the Brightwater system begins operating in 2010.

"It takes a special kind of organization to participate in a construction project of this magnitude, and I am grateful that our staff has been able to pull together the world's leading tunneling firms to perform this portion of the project," said Christie True, Director of the King County Wastewater Treatment Division.

• "Luminita" was launched today from the North Creek Portal, and will dig east to the Brightwater treatment plant site at the intersection of State Routes 9 and 522, where it is expected to be retrieved in November 2008. Joint venture Kenny/Shea/Traylor was awarded this part of the tunneling contract.
• "Helene" was launched from the North Kenmore Portal in mid-September and is tunneling east to the North Creek Portal, where it is expected to be retrieved in February 2009. Vinci/Parsons/Frontier-Kemper was awarded this part of the tunneling contract.
• "Rainier" will launch in December from the North Kenmore Portal and will tunnel west toward the Ballinger Portal, where it is expected to be retrieved in November 2009. Vinci/Parsons/Frontier-Kemper is the contractor on this tunneling segment.
• The fourth tunnel boring machine, which has yet to be named, will launch in April 2008 and dig east to the Ballinger Portal, where it is expected to be retrieved in December 2009. Jay Dee/Coluccio/Taisei has the contract to complete that portion of the tunneling.

Contractors will install piping inside the tunnels after the machines are retrieved. Once all the surface work is completed, King County will begin restoration projects as part of its mitigation agreements with each Brightwater portal host community. King County is investing more than $140 million in mitigation for the Brightwater system.

True recognized the world-class civil engineering firms that helped design the conveyance tunnels for the Brightwater system: Montgomery Watson Harza and Jacobs Associates; and Camp Dresser McKee, the geotechnical engineers. Jacobs Civil, an engineering firm, is overseeing construction management on the project.

When it comes online in late 2010, Brightwater will serve hundreds of thousands of residents of north King and south Snohomish counties. The $1.7 billion system includes the first regional treatment plant to be built since the West Point and South plants were constructed four decades ago.

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

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