Governor Gregoire Announces $71 Million in Infrastructure Improvements to Local Communities

For Immediate Release: March 12, 2007

OLYMPIA � Governor Chris Gregoire today signed legislation awarding $71 million in infrastructure loans to 19 communities across Washington. The funds will help local governments improve sanitary sewer systems, domestic water and storm water services.

�These projects are smart investments in local Washington communities,� said Governor Gregoire. �They will help to protect public and environmental health while providing good jobs and support for thriving local economies.�

Governor Gregoire, who has made cleaning up Puget Sound a priority of her administration, thanked the Legislature for directing $32.3 million of the loans towards projects in five counties that border Puget Sound.

�Better storm water and sewer systems prevent pollution, in Puget Sound and in every Washington community,� said Governor Gregoire.

The low-interest loans are administered by the Public Works Trust Fund and help local governments and public utilities finance critical public works projects, such as bridges, roads, solid waste, domestic water, sanitary sewers and storm sewer systems. Funds come from the Public Works Assistance Account, which is administered by the Public Works Board.

�We want to help communities finance necessary infrastructure so they can be successful, sustainable and safe,� said Juli Wilkerson, Director of the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, which administers the Public Works Board.

�There is a significant amount of investment that is needed to meet water and sewer needs in our state,� said Dr. Diana Gale, chair of the Public Works Board. �Safe drinking water and reliable sewer systems are part of the basic foundation in any community.�

The Legislature approved funding for the following projects:

• City of Airway Heights - $7 million to design and construct a new wastewater treatment, reclamation, and groundwater recharge facility with a capacity of approximately one million gallons per day.
  
• City of Blaine - $7 million to construct a new wastewater treatment plant to serve the projected demand for the next 20 years, using the latest membrane filtering technology to produce reuse-quality water and minimize impacts to local shell fishing.
  
• City of Bremerton - $675,000 to upgrade a sewage pump station, increasing capacity from 1,900 gallons per minute to 3,500 gallons per minute, and eliminating sewage overflow into Puget Sound.
  
• City of Bremerton - $3 million to upgrade and improve a treatment plant, create redundancy for essential treatment processes and replace 20-year-old components.
  
• City of Bremerton - $300,000 to construct approximately 1,300 feet of new sewer interceptor and collector pipes to replace old sewer pipes.
  
• Chelan County Public Utility District No. 1 - $5.3 million to design and construct two pump stations which will increase capacity from 4,000 gallons per minute to 6,000 gallons per minute, a two million gallon reservoir and 5,000 feet of water transmission mains to provide a reliable water source for 4,500 local customers.
  
• Cowlitz County - $340,000 to recoat the interior and exterior of four reservoirs to prevent leaks and protect the structural integrity of the reservoirs.
  
• Cross Valley Water District - $532,525 to relocate and replace a failing water supply line that is located in an extremely wet cow pasture. Approximately 3,500 feet of asbestos cement line will be replaced with 12-inch ductile iron pipe.
  
• East Wenatchee Water District - $2.8 million to construct 6,000 feet of 12-inch water main that will serve as the supply line to a 1.5 million gallon reservoir.
  
• Town of Friday Harbor - $4.4 million to construct a 1,900 foot long new offshore marine pipeline, a new pump station and 3,650 feet of pipeline to the wastewater treatment plant.
  
• Grays Harbor County Water District No. 1 - $6.7 million to provide water from the primary supply source to the north end of the system in order to mitigate low-pressure problems and comply with a bilateral compliance agreement. They will extend the distribution system to provide service to residences with failing individual supplies, construct standby power generation facilities for the primary supply source and construct additional storage and pumping facilities to provide reliable service and fire flow.
  
• Lake Stevens Sewer District - $7 million to construct a state-of-the-art membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment facility outside the flood plain, an interceptor line and a pump station.
  
• Town of Mattawa - $465,585 to complete public bidding and construction of a 622,000 cubic foot high-density polyethylene lined long-term biosolids digestion basin, associated piping, rehabilitation of the existing biosolids drying beds and fencing.
  
• City of Port Angeles - $1.9 million to design and construct 4,500 feet of 30-inch sewer main to the headworks of the wastewater treatment plant.
  
• City of Snohomish - $7 million to construct a 15- and 10-inch sewer to reach an existing pump station, extend the sewer using an 8-inch pipe to another pump station and replace an existing sewer with a 10-inch pipe to provide additional capacity for future service.
  
• City of Toppenish - $7 million to construct a single activated sludge process to replace the existing wastewater treatment facility, including the installation of ultraviolet disinfection channels to replace chlorine gas. The solids handling system will be improved.
  
• City of Walla Walla - $6.8 million to complete the upgrade at the wastewater treatment plant to meet class A water reuse standards and to comply with an agreed order from the Department of Ecology.
  
• City of Yakima - $2.3 million to replace chlorine gas with ultraviolet disinfection at the Yakima regional wastewater treatment plant and complete the first phase of the facility improvements.

House Bill 1025, sponsored by Rep. Christine Rolfe (D-Bainbridge Island), passed the House with 94 votes and passed the Senate with 48 votes. It takes effect immediately. For more information, visit the Public Works Board.

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