Technical Tours
While you are in Seattle for the conference, we would like to invite you to take advantage of a unique opportunity - register for a local facility tour! All tours will depart from the entrance of the hotel. Please check the schedule of events as some of the tours may conflict with other scheduled conference activities.
LOTT Alliance - Reclaimed Water Treatment Plants, Ponds, and Recharge Basins Tour
When: Sunday, September 13
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Fee: $55 (includes a box lunch)
Limited to 40 people
To meet the wastewater treatment needs of its growing 3-city area (Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater), the LOTT Alliance committed to supplementing its central marine-discharge treatment plant by building satellite facilities that would produce and distribute reclaimed water.
This tour will compare the operations, final products, and lessons learned from two different facilities, featuring different reclaimed water technologies. The Martin Way Reclaimed Water Plant is a membrane bioreactor satellite system. Built initially to treat 2 million gallons per day, it treats wastewater diverted from a nearby pump station. The Budd Inlet Reclaimed Water Plant, a sand filter system located at LOTT's larger central treatment plant, takes up to 1.5 mgd of already-treated and disinfected effluent, which has been through biological nutrient removal, and further treats it to reclaimed water quality.
Treating to the Washington State's Class A Reclaimed Water standards, LOTT's reclaimed water is safe for public contact and can be used for irrigation and a wide range of other non-potable purposes. Tour participants will also view current use sites, including state, city, and port park areas in the downtown Olympia area. In Lacey, participants will visit LOTT's 40-acre Hawks Prairie Reclaimed Water Ponds and Recharge Basins site.
South Treatment Plant Reclaimed Water Facility and Reclaimed Water Research Garden Tour
When: Monday, September 14
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Fee: $45
Limited to 50 people
King County's Wastewater Treatment Division operates an 115 mgd treatment plant in Renton, WA. Since 1997, a reclaimed water facility using a sand filter has produced between 80 and 100 million gallons of Class A reclaimed water annually for in-plant processes and off-site customers that irrigate athletic fields, nurseries and other landscaping.
This is the second year of a two year study being conducted by the University of Washington to develop data on the growth response and safety of commercially grown food-crops and ornamental plants irrigated with reclaimed water. The tour will feature research plots and demonstration gardens of vegetables grown with reclaimed water. These vegetables will be tested for food safety standards for human consumption in their washed and unwashed state. The tour will also discuss last year's lab study results.
Carnation Wastewater Treatment Facility and Reclaimed Water Wetland Enhancement Tour
When: Tuesday, September 15
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Fee: $45
Limited to 30 people
Carnation, a city of about 2,000 people, lies in an environmentally-sensitive rural area on the eastern edge of metropolitan King County. Failing septic systems posed a serious threat to the city's environmental quality and economic vitality. The city signed a contract with King County to design, build and operate a centralized wastewater treatment plant, a membrane bioreactor with ultraviolet disinfection system with a design capacity of 0.4 mgd. The plant came on line in 2008. This technical tour offers the opportunity to share lessons learned in designing, constructing and operating this kind of facility.
After a tour of the plant, the group will travel 1.5 miles to the reclaimed water wetland enhancement at Chinook Bend Natural Area. All of Carnation's wastewater is treated to Class A reclaimed water standards and is used to provide drought tolerant hydrology to enhance a natural wetland. A number of strong interagency partnerships, including a key partnership with Ducks Unlimited, allowed the project to meet obligations and regulatory requirements while providing wildlife benefits and enhancing the passive recreation opportunities in a forested wetland.
This is your opportunity to check out the 2008 WateReuse Small project of the year award.