Introduction By Dave Evans

The Brightwater Treatment Plant project is both a “work of art” and an outstanding “application of technologies.” While this story was written for the CH2M HILL alumni, readers are urged to visit the King County website listed below to gain an appreciation of the other Brightwater teams that supported the outfall conveyance and outfall discharge systems. Without these other outstanding King County and Consultant teams, the Brightwater Story would not have happened!

The Story of Brightwater begins and very successfully ends with this published vision by King County, Washington, that states:

  • “The Brightwater Treatment Plant and Center are a bridge linking existing educational, research, professional and apprenticeship programs with the construction and operation of new wastewater facilities;
  • The Center is a meeting and learning place to make connections between science, the environment, and human impacts; and
  • The Center connects community members, schools and organizations with the wastewater utility function and its real life examples of science, environmental protection and sustainable development in action.”

King County, with its many county regional wastewater treatment responsibilities, recognized that its next expansion of treatment, outfall conveyance, and outfall discharge needed to reside in a neighboring county. “Not in my back yard” took on nearly biblical proportions in spite of strong staff and public coordination with neighboring counties.

During the EIS process, many sites were considered and rejected because of engineering, county, or community needs. The final Brightwater EIS proposed site had plus and minus issues. These issues included potential treatment plant odor, reclaimed wastewater reuse, preserving fisheries, elimination of an odorous pea soup canning facility, reuse of the pea soup facilities in the new proposed Brightwater treatment project, and the loss of a regional used-car replacement facility (junk yard).

Throughout the process, this talented team included the residents and County staffs, and the Consultant engineering teams of CH2M HILL and Brown and Caldwell covering treatment design, project management, and construction management; Mithun, Building Architecture; Hargreaves and Associates, Landscape Architecture; Paladino and Company, LEED Consultant; Hoffman Construction Co., Liquids Construction Contractor; and Kiewit Infrastructure, Solids Construction Contractor.

This introduction ends as we all jointly present to you this great, multiple award-winning project as now described by the following hyperlinks: