Washington Wastewater Treatment Plant Will Recycle Own Sewage

It may be hard to believe but recycled sewage could soon become a reality in Pierce County, WA. The unique idea is a part of a $342 million expansion of the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.

While putting in place the irrigation system to make use of the reclaimed water will take some time, other benefits of the sewer plant upgrade are close, according to The News Tribune.

The project is primarily aimed at equipping the plant to handle wastewater from additional households and businesses, but is also expected to make the millions of gallons of treated wastewater discharged into Puget Sound each day safer for the marine environment.

When the expansion opens this coming fall, the plant will become one of the few in the country using a process called “deammonification” to break down nitrogen-rich ammonia.

“Even though the standards for discharge have not changed, we will have the capacity to produce cleaner water with the new treatment technology,” Public Works Director Brian Ziegler told The News Tribune.

Deammonification has been used in Europe for years, reported The News Tribune, but it is still considered new in the United States. The deammonification method has been adopted by Pierce County and is in use at only five other wastewater treatment plants in North America, according to Chandler Johnson, chief technology officer at World Water Works. The company holds the license to the technology in America.

After the expansion is complete, the plant’s capacity will grow from 28.7 MGD to as much as 45 MGD, according to Public Works spokeswoman Callene Abernathy. Another expansion will be necessary in the future for the plant to reach its expected total capacity of 60 MGD of wastewater.