Drafter
Clerk 05/28/2013
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AN ORDINANCE amending sewage disposal rules and regulations in order to clarify the application, administration and billing for wastewater capacity charges; and amending Ordinance 11034, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 28.84.050.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Following authorization from the Washington state legislature, the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle began collecting a wastewater capacity charge from customers who connected, reconnected or established service after February 1, 1990.
2. In 1993, Ordinance 11034 was enacted relating to the administration of the capacity charge program.
3. The wastewater treatment division of the department of natural resources and parks has developed practices consistent with current King County Code for the implementation of the capacity charge.
4. Ordinance 16414, enacted in 2009, revised several code provisions to provide greater clarity on the administration of the wastewater capacity charge.
5. The wastewater treatment division is a green utility whose core mission is protecting public health and the environment by creating resources from wastewater. The division recognizes that some on-site sewage systems may offer an alternative opportunity for resource recovery in nonresidential structures that meet very strict sustainable building requirements.
6. The emergence of new technologies for an on-site sewage treatment system designed with a back-up system that does not rely on discharging into the public sewer system and that does not pose a human or environmental health risk should be eligible for a modified capacity charge.
7. The proposed King County Code changes in this ordinance further improve clarity as well as add a provision related to calculation of the capacity charge for new structures designed to achieve zero discharge into the public sewer system.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 11034, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 28.84...

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