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1. Where is the wastewater treatment plant located?
The Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant is located at 10311 Chambers Creek Road West in University Place, Washington.
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2. Where does wastewater come from?
Wastewater comes from homes, and includes human and household wastes from toilets, sinks, baths, and drains. Wastewater also comes from industry, schools, and businesses throughout the urban areas of Pierce County. Water that collects in street drains during a storm, as well as ground water that seeps through cracks in sewer lines, is also considered wastewater.
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3. Why is it necessary to treat wastewater?
The 1972 Federal Clean Water Act required Pierce County to treat its wastewater. The wastewater treatment plant removes solids from wastewater, reduces organic matter and pollutants, and restores oxygen to treated wastewater to ensure that discharged water contains enough oxygen to support aquatic life. The Chambers Creek Facility then discharges treated wastewater into Puget Sound. Wastewater treatment helps protects the Sound's aquatic life as well as keeping waters safe for fishing and recreational uses.
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4. How does wastewater get to the treatment plant?
Pierce County operates and maintains over 625 hundred miles of sewer lines, 94 pump stations, and over 14,000 manholes throughout the Service Basin. The pipelines have been designed and constructed to bring wastewater flow into the Chambers Creek Plant. This system of sewer lines converge into a large central structure known as the 'tunnel' the main conduit for flow into the treatment plant. From this point the process of treatment begins.
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5. What happens to the wastewater once it reaches the treatment plant?
Basically the treatment plant cleans the wastewater of all foreign materials by separating out the solids and trashes from the water itself. Once the wastewater is separated from the solids, it is fully treated and discharged into Puget Sound and the solids are converted to what is know as biosolids.
The first step is called Primary Treatment. Primary Treatment removes half of the solids from incoming wastewater. Screens and grit filters collect collect trash as the wastewater passes through. Water flow is then slowed to allow heavy solids to settle to be removed later. A system of scrapers are then used to collect any additional solid matter and greases that remain at the surface of the water.
After Primary Treatment is completed Secondary Treatment begins. Secondary Treatment removes a greater amount, 85-90%, of pollutants from the wastewater. Air is then mixed with the wastewater along with beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms. The beneficial organisms consume harmful organic matter in the wastewater. The wastewater is then sent to a sedimentation tank to allow the remaining solid wastes and microorganisms to settle and separate from the wastewater. Ultraviolet Light Radiation is then applied to the wastewater as a disinfectant prior to discharge into Puget Sound.
The Final Step or process converts the biosolids remaining from Primary and Secondary Treatment to a dry pelletized organic Class A biosolids fertilizer. Pierce County has begun the process of converting its biosolids product into an EPA approved 'Exceptional Quality' Class A commercial/residential use fertilizer.
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For more on the wastewater treatment process:
How it Works: the Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility
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6. How was the Sewer Service Basin determined?
The size or area of the Sewer Service Basin, was modeled after the Chambers Creek-Clover Creek Drainage Basin also know as Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 12 as established by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The area includes the Cities of University Place, Lakewood, Milton, Dupont, and Fircrest, the Town of Steilacoom and areas of unincorporated Pierce County identified as urban growth areas including Parkland, Spanaway, Frederickson and South Hill. (The Cities of Fircrest and Milton are currently served by the City of Tacoma's Central Wastewater Treatment Plant).
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7. What was the Sewer Utility's role in construction of infrastructure?
In 1969 Pierce County adopted the Chambers Creek-Clover Creek Basin Sewage General Plan. This plan outlined the staged construction of conventional interceptor and collector pipelines and a single 12 million gallons per day (MGD) secondary wastewater treatment plant with outfall to Puget Sound. This service area became the central portion of the Chambers Creek-Clover Creek Basin that included the Lakewood, Parkland and Spanaway areas. In 1973 this service area became Utility Local Improvement District (ULID) 73-1, the core of the urbanized Pierce County service area.
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8. What is a ULID?
A ULID or Utility Local Improvement District, is a process that enables Pierce County to use long term tax-exempt financing to construct utility improvements to serve properties in a specific area. The process allows for low-interest rates and up to 20 years to pay for the cost of improvements.
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9. What is the Utility's role in construction today?
Today the Sewer Utility concentrates on extending interceptor pipelines to areas of the service basin not yet covered by the system. The Utility, through it's network of interceptor pipelines, provides access to new and existing development to connect to the collection grid. Developers and individual landowners wishing to utilize the sewer system develop and construct new private or public collector pipeline systems for their individual projects for connection to the sewer system.
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10. What is a Collector Pipeline?
A collector pipeline serves individual neighborhoods and connects into the County's system through an interceptor pipeline. These collector pipelines are typically 8' in diameter or less but can be up to 15' in diameter. All collector pipelines are sized to accommodate future residential or commercial expansion within a specific area.
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11. What is an Interceptor Pipeline?
An interceptor pipeline is an extension usually done by the Sewer Utility that will enable private landowners or developers the means to access the sewer system. These pipelines may be installed by Pierce County or a developer or developers to bring sewer service to their properties. Interceptor lines are typically 12' in diameter and larger and are sized to accommodate larger areas for connection into the sewer system.
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12. Why are some sewer lines buried so deep?
The Pierce County Sewer System relies upon gravity flow to bring wastewater from all areas of the service basin into the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant for processing. The depth of interceptor and/or collector pipelines may be anywhere between 3-30 feet in depth with an average depth of 8-10 feet. In areas where positive gravity flow cannot be established, a system of pump stations provides the additional push to aid in wastewater flows. Pierce County operates and maintains 94 pump stations throughout the service basin.
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13. How is service extended within the Sewer Service Basin?
The Sewer Utility uses the Unified Sewer Plan to identify and extend interceptor pipelines to areas of the basin not yet covered. The Utility, through it's network of interceptor pipelines, provides access to new and existing development to connect to the sewer system. The developer or landowners wishing to utilize the the sewer system have new collector pipeline systems designed by private engineering firms whose plans are then reviewed and approved by Pierce County Development Engineering Section prior to installation and connection to the system.
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14. Why aren't all properties in Pierce County sewered?
With the adoption of the 1994 Growth Management Act, Pierce County was required to re-evaluate and recategorize land uses into two distinct types, urban and rural lands. Urban lands or zones are typically properties that have been developed with either dense housing or commercial/industrial uses and are located within Pierce County's Urban Growth Area. Urban zones will have available to individual parcels, infrastructure improvements such as roads and utilities for immediate use.
Rural zones are mainly residential in nature and are located outside of the Urban Growth Area. The Rural zone is characterized by larger lots typically over one-acre in size and may have roads available, but not all utilities readily available for parcel use. Sewer and water services are generally not available and lots will usually have on-site septic disposal systems and possibly individual private wells for drinking water.
The Growth Management Act and Pierce County Code forbid sewer extension into any rural zone except under tight restrictions.
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15. What do my monthly sewer service charges pay for?
The Pierce County Sewer Utility including the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is supported by the fees paid by the individual residential, commercial, and industrial rate payers served by the Utility. Your monthly service charges pay for the continued maintenance and operation of the system, upgrades to the treatment processes at the WWTP, and all employee costs. The Utility does not receive additional monetary assistance from the Pierce County General Fund.
Pierce County rate payers enjoy some of the lowest service rates in Washington State.
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Contact Information:
Stefan Kamieniecki - Senior Planner
Public Works and Utilities - Sewer Utility
9850 64th Street West
University Place, WA 98467-1078
Phone: (253) 798-3094
Fax: (253) 798-2570
steve.kamieniecki@co.pierce.wa.us
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