King County remains committed to making sure that Brightwater is a state-of-the-art, attractively designed facility that will be built to meet the latest seismic standards.

Our growing region needs more wastewater treatment capacity to protect public health and the economy. Last month, we set a record for the volume of wastewater flowing into our two treatment plants in Seattle and Renton, which now treat wastewater for a large portion of south Snohomish County.

Without Brightwater, we will put our region at risk economically and environmentally. To avoid overflows and protect public health, the state has threatened the possibility of a building moratorium throughout much of King and Snohomish counties if Brightwater is not built and operating by 2010.

But because both known and unknown earthquake faults exist throughout our region, it is impossible to avoid them in siting new infrastructure.

We can’t prevent earthquakes, nor predict when and where they might occur, but we can prepare for them in the way we design essential public facilities like Brightwater.

Brightwater is being designed to withstand shaking from a large earthquake, whether it were to happen onsite or somewhere else in the Puget Sound region. People can feel confident in what King County is doing to build a stronger, safer treatment plant. Last spring, King County issued a supplemental environmental impact statement to study the possible impacts of an earthquake on the treatment plant site and used the information to improve Brightwater design.

The studies we did exceed the environmental review on other large projects, including Sound Transit’s light rail system, Safeco Field and Qwest Field. Some of these projects are located over or cross the Seattle Fault. The U.S. Geological Survey and King County have confirmed only one active fault on a portion of the Route 9 site where no new facilities were ever planned. The chances of an earthquake occurring on the treatment plant site are extremely remote.

As part of our recent agreement with Snohomish County, King County will continue seismic trenching on the Brightwater site as soon as weather allows this spring. The areas that are targeted for trenching are underneath where we are planning to put chemical storage buildings. If evidence of earthquake faults is found, we will change the location of those buildings.

Unfortunately, there is no technology that can conclusively prove there are no faults on the Brightwater site, which is why we are designing the new treatment plant as if active faults were present. Treatment plants in Japan and California have withstood very strong earthquakes, which shows that current design methods are very effective.

Before the decision to build Brightwater in 1999, we invited the public to comment on at a range of alternatives to add capacity in our system by 2010. The majority of commenters supported building a third regional treatment plant over the other alternatives proposed. Besides building Brightwater, King County’s long range plans to increase capacity also include another expansion at South Plant in Renton in 2029. South Plant was just expanded in the 1990s.

People have been involved in Brightwater decision-making at every step in the process from siting through design. The comments we received are reflected in the design of Brightwater facilities and incorporated what people wanted, including seismic upgrades.

King County has been working with the public for years to make sure Brightwater is a good neighbor. At the State Route 9 site, Brightwater will:

1. Replace auto wrecking yards with attractively designed buildings, enhanced landscaping and over 70 acres of public open space and trails
2. Preserve and enhance wildlife and salmon habitat
3. Improve the runoff that enters Little Bear Creek through a natural stormwater treatment system
4. Prevent odors with a state-of-the art odor control system
5. Host a community/education center with meeting facilities for the public

Finally, it is important to clarify that funding for Brightwater will not come from taxpayers, but instead through a capacity charge levied to newly connecting customers throughout the system, which will make sure that “growth pays for growth” while keeping rates stable for existing customers.

King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division is committed to making sure that ratepayers get the best return for their investment in our programs and services.

Besides working with both the King County Council and independent management consultants on ways to control Brightwater project costs, we have also enacted a Productivity Initiative which is aimed at incorporating private sector business practices into how we deliver public projects.

In five years, King County’s wastewater treatment employees have saved sewer ratepayers more than $25 million.

Wastewater treatment benefits everyone in the region. King County has been treating wastewater from Snohomish County for 40 years, and Woodinville area residents and businesses have also benefited from our wastewater facilities since 1973.

We work every day to protect public health, water quality and the environment – today and for generations yet to come. Our commitment and dedication continues with Brightwater.