Wastewater

Except for the City of Bremerton's surface water source, all of Kitsap County gets their drinking water from groundwater sources. It is important that, as Kitsap County develops, we continue to recharge our aquifers. Actions toward this include everything from stormwater management to low impact development practices. It also includes the ongoing effort to treat and recover wastewater. Watch this video to learn of one such project that recently took place in Port Gamble.

Kitsap Daily News Article - Sep 27th, 2017 Port Gamble Resource Recovery Facility a 'feel-good project that was done for all the right reasons'

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Kitsap PUD: A New Wastewater Treatment Facility, Port Gamble

In 2014, Kitsap PUD was approached by a group overseeing cleanup of Gamble Bay. Washington Department of Ecology had allocated $2 Million toward removal of the existing wastewater treatment plant's marine outfall to Hood Canal. The plan was to redirect the effluent to an upland drainfield. This would open up 90 acres of closed geoduck beds and further efforts to restore Hood Canal and Puget Sound. The group needed a public agency to administer the funds and own any infrastructure built with them. Kitsap PUD agreed to be that public partner.

While marine restoration was the driving goal behind the funding, Kitsap PUD saw another benefit: by redirecting the treatment plant's outfall upland, the project would help recharge local groundwater supplies and streamflows. It was quickly determined that the effluent from the old wastewater treatment plant was not clean enough to discharge to our groundwater system. Kitsap PUD pushed for replacing the existing, outdated, wastewater plant with a new state of the art MBR plant. This would result in a much cleaner discharge to the local groundwater system.

MBR stands for "membrane bio-reactor". This technology uses a two-step process to treat water. First, wastewater undergoes a bio-reaction whereby bacteria decompose waste materials. In the second step, the broken down waste is passed through a series of filters (membranes) that remove organisms as small as viruses. By adding a disinfectant, like chlorine, at the end of the process, the treated effluent is near drinking water quality.

Because Kitsap PUD was not explicitly authorized to own and operate wastewater treatment facilities, the District had to go to a vote of Kitsap County voters for authorization. In November2015, Kitsap County voters granted Kitsap PUD wastewater authority, with 75% of the voters approving.

Over the course of 2016, a new MBR plant was constructed and installed at Port Gamble. In April of 2017, wastewater from the townsite was redirected from the old treatment plant to the new MBR facility. The new MBR plant is currently treating approximately 60,000 gallons of wastewater per day and infiltrating it via a large upland drainfield.