Washington has more than 300 wastewater treatment plants that play a critical role in protecting water quality in rivers, lakes and Puget Sound. These complex facilities deal with everything homes and businesses flush down the drain. While every facility is unique, they all rely on certified wastewater treatment plant operators for proper operation and maintenance.
Each year, the Washington Department of Ecology honors some of these wastewater treatment plants with the agency’s Outstanding Performance Award for achieving excellent compliance with their water quality permits.
“Wastewater treatment plants provide a critical service to our communities and yet we often don’t think about wastewater unless something goes wrong,” said Vince McGowan, Ecology’s Water Quality program manager. “While the work of wastewater treatment operators is often out of the public view, they deserve a very public ‘thank you’ for their hard work in serving their communities and protecting water quality.”
To determine the awardees, Ecology evaluated wastewater treatment plants on permit conditions such as regularly meeting numeric effluent limits, conducting monitoring, and reporting data as required.
"We're all so proud of our treatment plant operations team for achieving this milestone award,” said Sarah Lee, board president for Kitsap County Sewer District #7, which operates one of the treatment plants recognized by Ecology. “This award honors our commitment to serving our community and keeping our local waterways clean and safe."
Consistently meeting the standards for a top performer is an important accomplishment, said Kevin T. Wynn, wastewater director for water and wastewater services for the Newhalem Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is one of two facilities receiving the honor for their 15th consecutive year.
“It is a great accomplishment to receive this award consistently for over a decade and a half, our team always strives for excellence in operations and water quality,” Wynn said.
Ecology is recognizing 118 facilities for their operations in 2023. Here are a few of the award highlights:
- Facilities recognized for the first time: Basin City Mobile Home Park Wastewater Treatment Facility, Fairchild Mobile Home Community Wastewater Treatment Plant, Farmington Wastewater Treatment Facility, Tekoa Wastewater Treatment Facility, Walla Walla Water District No. 2 Wastewater Treatment Facility, and Warden Water Reclamation Facility.
- Facilities receiving their fifth consecutive award: Sunnyside Wastewater Treatment Facility, Alder Lake Park Wastewater Treatment Plant, Alderbrook Resort & Spa Wastewater Treatment Plant, North Bonneville Wastewater Treatment Plant, Satsop Business Park Wastewater Treatment Plant, Sequim Water Reclamation Facility, Everson Wastewater Treatment Plant, Kitsap County Sewer District #7 Wastewater Treatment Plant, Crescent Bar Wastewater Treatment Facility, and Clarkston Wastewater Treatment Plant.
- Facilities receiving their 15th consecutive awards: Newhalem Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wishram Wastewater Treatment Plant.
- Facilities that have been recognized at least 20 times: Chambers Creek, Discovery Clean Water Alliance Salmon Creek, Eatonville, Lake Mayfield, Manchester, Vancouver Marine Park, Newhalem, Port Townsend, and Vancouver Westside.
See the full list of recipients
Be a part of the solution
Wastewater treatment operators do many jobs in a day, including testing samples in a lab
With the state’s growing population, more wastewater treatment plant operators are needed. If you have experience as, or working for, a plumber, welder, machinist, mechanic, laboratory technician, engineer, or as an operator at a similar facility, you might have the right type of experience for this work. Ecology’s certification program for wastewater operators website has more information.