Drafter
Clerk 03/12/2011
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A MOTION approving reclaimed water strategies to move forward with engineering, economic and environmental analyses to determine if, how, when, where and by what funding mechanisms King County's existing reclaimed water program should expand; and rescinding motion 13108.
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WHEREAS, in December 2009, through Motion 13108, the King County council approved the planning process to determine if, how, when, where and by what funding mechanisms over the next thirty years King County's existing reclaimed water program should expand, and
WHEREAS, in accordance with Step 2 of the approved planning process, King County's wastewater treatment division ("WTD") collected data from October 2009 through March 2010 on potential nonpotable consumptive and environmental enhancement uses in the region that reclaimed water could serve through:
1. Meetings with more than forty interested parties, including tribes, cities, water districts, wastewater utilities, environmental groups, state agencies and watersheds;
2. Public workshops; and
3. Reviews of existing literature and studies, and
WHEREAS, as a result of these efforts:
1. Over eight hundred potential locations for nonpotable consumptive uses of reclaimed water were identified;
2. Environmental flow restoration targets were estimated for streams in twelve watershed basins in the planning area that could likely benefit from additional water inputs;
3. The potential for using reclaimed water to aid in the management of Lake Washington water levels was identified; and
4. The potential for using reclaimed water to support groundwater recharge in the city of Auburn was identified, and
WHEREAS, in April 2010, in accordance with the planning process, based on the data gathered in Step 2, the King County executive authorized WTD to move forward into Step 3 of the planning process to develop and refine conceptual reclaimed water strategies to serve the potential uses for reclaimed water identified in Step 2, and
WHEREAS, as part of Step 3 of the planning process, WTD developed thirteen initial reclaimed water strategies to serve potential uses for reclaimed water that were identified during Step 2 of the planning process, and
WHEREAS, WTD solicited input and feedback on the thirteen reclaimed water strategies through a workshop on April 29, 2010, and through more than twenty-five subsequent individual meetings that took place during May through July 2010 with representatives of tribal governments, water and sewer districts, local jurisdictions, state and federal agencies, water resource inventory areas and environmental groups, and
WHEREAS, based on this input and feedback, WTD refined the initial set of conceptual reclaimed water strategies, and
WHEREAS, WTD gathered feedback from interested parties on the refined strategies in fall 2010, and
WHEREAS, the executive recommends that the following three refined reclaimed water strategies move forward into Step 4 of the planning process for additional analysis:
1. Redmond/Bear Creek Basin Brightwater Centralized Strategy. The components of this reclaimed water strategy include approximately ten million gallons per day ("mgd") of reclaimed water production at the Brightwater Treatment Plant, with approximately fourteen additional miles of distribution pipelines, a portion directly from the Brightwater Treatment Plant site, and a portion from the south segment of the Brightwater reclaimed water pipeline. The strategy would be able to serve potential nonpotable consumptive uses and wetland enhancement in the city of Redmond and wetland enhancements in the Bear Creek basin. The strategy represents an addition to the seven mgd of reclaimed water that will be available to areas in north King County, south Snohomish county, and the Sammamish valley when the south segment of the Brightwater reclaimed water pipeline is operational, and
2. Reclaimed Water Skimming or Polishing Decentralized Strategy. The components of this strategy include a preassembled or packaged reclaimed water treatment plant sited near and receiving water from a King County regional conveyance pipeline that could provide up to five hundred thousand gallons of reclaimed water. Approximately one mile of distribution pipeline would be required. The strategy would be able to serve nearby nonpotable consumptive uses, and
3. Renton/Tukwila South Plant Centralized Strategy. The components of this strategy include production of an additional two mgd of reclaimed water at South Treatment Plant, with approximately eighteen miles of distribution pipelines. The strategy would be able to serve nonpotable consumptive uses in the cities of Renton and Tukwila and wetland enhancement in the city of Renton adjacent to the Cedar river, and
WHEREAS, each of the three strategies has been developed for planning purposes only, represents the range of potential nonpotable consumptive and environmental enhancement uses for reclaimed water identified across the region, uses existing regional wastewater and reclaimed water infrastructure with incremental expansions and aligns with the feedback from interested parties to start small and build on successes over time, and
WHEREAS, additional planning-level engineering, economic and environmental analyses will provide important information on the economic costs and benefits, engineering opportunities and constraints, and environmental effects associated with each strategy, and
WHEREAS, the results of the analyses and application of evaluation criteria that were approved by the King County council through Motion 13211 will help to answer many of the issues` and questions raised by interested parties and provide essential information in the process to determine if, how, when, where, and by what funding mechanisms the county's existing reclaimed water program should expand;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. The three reclaimed water strategies that are approved to move into Step 4 of the planning process for economic, engineering and environmental analyses are:
1. Redmond/Bear Creek Basin Brightwater Centralized Strategy;
2. Reclaimed Water Skimming or Polishing Decentralized Strategy; and
3. Renton/Tukwila South Plant Centralized Strategy.
B. The Step 4 analysis of the three reclaimed water strategies is intended to provide information on potential approaches to reclaimed water. Step 4 of the process will be expanded to include an analysis, consistent with subsection B.1. of this motion, of alternatives to reclaimed water as well as the development of policies to guide reclaimed water planning, as follows:
1. The identification of alternatives to reclaimed water is moved into Step 4 and will be expanded to include scoping of alternatives, including information from available sources on the estimated scope and cost for such alternatives, to enable policymakers to make reasonable comparisons among various potential alternatives to reclaimed water. A detailed project-specific analysis of alternatives to reclaimed water would take place before initiating any reclaimed water capital project;
2. As part of Step 4, the wastewater treatment division will develop policies to guide the determination of whether or to what extent King County's reclaimed water program should expand in the future and seek input from cities, water and sewer districts, tribes and other interested parties. Considering the information from the analysis of the strategies in Step 4, the identified alternatives to reclaimed water, the stakeholder input on reclaimed water policies, and other relevant factors, the executive will recommend policies to guide planning for reclaimed water. The policies will include, but are not limited to:
a. policies to guide whether to proceed with a reclaimed water project as compared to another approach that could yield similar outcomes;
b. policies to guide the financing of any expansion of the county's reclaimed water program;
c. policies to guide how costs and benefits of reclaimed water projects should be allocated; and
d. policies to guide how reclaimed water should be priced, such as full-cost recovery or some other approach, which may depend on the particular use involved; and
3. The council will consider and approve by motion the proposed reclaimed water policies at the conclusion of the revised Step 4 of the process. Those policies would guide any expansion of the county's existing reclaimed water program and will be the basis for updating reclaimed water policies in the Regional Wastewater Services Plan.
C. This motion hereby amends the reclaimed water planning process approved by Motion 13108. The amended process to determine if, how, when, where and by what funding mechanisms King County's existing reclaimed water program should expand is depicted in Attachment A to this motion and is hereby approved. The wastewater treatment division is directed to update the timelines in Attachment A to this motion,
consistent with this motion.
D. Motion 13108 is hereby rescinded.