Contractors are putting the final touches on two new bridges in
Kitsap County, both of which are expected to improve the local
environment.
A new bridge over the Carpenter
Creek Estuary near Kingston helps to restore the upper salt
marsh.
Photo; Stillwaters Environmental Center
One is a 150-foot bridge that crosses the Carpenter Creek
Estuary on West Kingston Road near Kingston. The other is a 50-foot
bridge that crosses Big Anderson Creek on Seabeck-Holly Road near
Holly.
Among local residents, the Carpenter Creek bridge may best be
known as the bridge that blocked traffic and forced a detour near
Kingston for more than a year — much longer than originally
planned. (Recall reporter Nathan Pilling’s story in the
Kitsap Sun.) While contract issues remain in dispute, the
environmental benefits are clear, according to Joleen Palmer of the
nearby Stillwaters Environmental Center.
All the pieces are falling into place for an upgrade of
Kingston’s sewage-treatment plant to produce high-quality reclaimed
water for irrigation, stream restoration and groundwater
recharge.
Kingston Wastewater Treatment
Plant
Photo courtesy of Golder and Associates
By the end of this year, a study by Brown and Caldwell engineers
is expected to spell out the location and size of pipelines, ponds
and infiltration basins. The next step will be the final design
followed by construction.
When the project is complete, Kingston’s entire flow of
wastewater will be cleaned up to Class A drinking water standards.
During the summer, the water will be sold to the Suquamish Tribe
for irrigating White Horse Golf Course. During the winter, most of
the flow will drain into the ground through shallow underground
pipes. Some of the infiltrated water will make its way to nearby
Grover’s Creek, boosting streamflows and improving water quality in
the degraded salmon stream.
Another major benefit of the project will be the elimination of
42 million gallons of sewage effluent per year — including about
3,000 pounds of nitrogen — which gets dumped into Kingston’s
Appletree Cove. I wrote about the effects of nitrogen and what is
being done to save Olympia’s Budd Inlet in five stories published
this week in the Encyclopedia of Puget
Sound, as I described in
Water Ways on Thursday.
The Kingston project, estimated to cost $8 million, has been
under study for several years, and Kitsap County Commissioner Rob
Gelder said he’s pleased to see the effort coming together.
“The Kingston Recycled Water Project is pivotal, and I’m very
happy to be partnering with the Suquamish Tribe,” Rob said in an
email. “The best thing we can do for our environment and to enhance
water availability is to not discharge treated flows into Puget
Sound. We are uniquely positioned to benefit from strategic
investments of this nature in the coming years.”
The Kitsap Peninsula is essentially an island where the
residents get 80 percent of their drinking water from wells. North
Kitsap, including Kingston, could be the first area on the
peninsula to face a shortage of water and saltwater intrusion —
which is why new strategies like recycled wastewater are so
important.
The latest feasibility study was launched last October under a
$563,000 contract with Brown and Caldwell. The work includes a
detailed study of soils and analysis of infiltration rates,
according to Barbara Zaroff of Kitsap Public Works who has been
coordinating the project. The location of the pipeline and ponds
for storing water near White Horse Golf Course also will be
determined.
Funding for the study includes a $150,000 grant from the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation with $150,000 from the Suquamish Tribe.
Kitsap County recently received a loan for up to $558,000 to
support the study.
I last wrote about the Kingston Recycled Water Project in
Water Ways three years ago, when I also discussed a similar
project in Silverdale, where recycled water will come from the
Central Kitsap Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The bridge construction will continue beyond the end of the
year, when it was originally scheduled for completion. The new
completion date is listed as March 2018.
“The delay is due to numerous issues and challenges, including
encountering old buried wooden pilings and associated contaminated
material, a revised sanitary sewer design, and labor and materials
shortages, which disrupted the construction schedule,” according to
a
news release from Kitsap County. “The onset of the winter
weather months will also add to the delay as final work on the
project, such as paving, depends on fair weather.”
—–
An old five-foot culvert where Carpenter Creek passes under West
Kingston Road is now down to its last bit of concrete plus a wedge
dirt, with final removal awaiting completion of a new 150-foot-long
bridge.
Only one section of the old
culvert remains on Carpenter Creek after other pieces were pulled
out two weeks ago. // Photo: Sillwaters Environmental
Center
Massive amounts of earthen fill and have been removed since the
project started about six months ago. All that remains is the wedge
of dirt that still supports pipes and utilities, which will be
attached to the bridge during construction. After that, the last
fill material will be removed, leaving a wide-open estuary flowing
under the bridge.
The construction has created some inconvenience for folks in the
Kingston area, but the project promises to enhance salmon migration
in Carpenter Creek, restore tidal function in the estuary and
enhance the salt marsh for a variety of creatures. The creek and/or
the estuary may be used by chum, coho and chinook salmon, along
with steelhead and cutthroat trout.
Stillwaters Environmental Center is coordinating monitoring in
the estuary to measure improvements in the ecosystem. Before and
after elevation measurements will help describe the physical
changes, while biological surveys identify changes in water
quality, vegetation, fish and insect populations, among other
things.
A new bridge takes shape where
West Kingston Road crosses the upper estuary of Carpenter Creek. //
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works
I am particularly interested in how the new bridge will further
improve the function of the estuary, which is the last major
stop-over point for juvenile salmon on their way out of Puget
Sound, according to biologists. The bridge on West Kingston Road is
the second phase of a project that began in 2012, when a small box
culvert was replaced with a 90-foot-long bridge on South Kingston
Road. The first bridge crosses the lower estuary, while the new
bridge crosses the upper estuary.
While my focus has been on life in the estuary, the project goes
beyond the ecosystem, Kitsap County Commissioner Rob Gelder told
Kitsap Sun reporter (now retired) Ed Friedrich in a
story published in March at the beginning of construction.
Here’s what the old culvert
looked like before the recent project began.
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works.
“This isn’t just a culvert-replacement project but a project
that will increase the safety and functionality for drivers and
pedestrians alike,” Rob said. “Road closure is never easy, but I
hope the community will appreciate the improvements when it’s all
complete.”
The work involves widening the travel lanes, adding 5-foot
pedestrian and bike lanes on the north side and a 6-foot paved
shoulder on the south side. In addition, street lighting will be
added.
As of today, the project has fallen behind schedule, according
to Tina Nelson, senior program manager for Kitsap County Public
Works. Tina said she hopes the contractor, Redside Construction of
Bainbridge Island, will catch up enough to allow the road to reopen
by the end of December, as originally scheduled.
Officials will be assessing the situation through the end of
October, she said. If it appears the bridge and roadway won’t be
ready for opening by Dec. 31, then an announcement will be made in
late October or early November. Advance notice is needed because of
school bus routing and scheduling after the new year.
The causes of the delay are many, Tina told me, but it generally
boils down to scheduling of project materials and crews, for which
the contractor is responsible. The contract calls for the work to
be done in a certain number of days, she said, and the contractor
will lose money if the work is not completed on time.
So far, fish passage has not been an issue, although chum salmon
could soon move into the estuary — if they haven’t already — as
they begin their fall migration. If fish try to move upstream
before the channel is reopened, officials with the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife will help determine the best way to
safely get them upstream.
Much of the $3-million project is funded by the Navy as
mitigation for ecological damage caused by the 2012 renovation of
Pier B at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.
Rainfall in much of North Kitsap has been falling at record
rates since the beginning of the so-called water year, which begins
in October. If you live in Kingston, January’s rainfall is running
well above records kept since 1993 by the Kitsap Public Utility
District.
For the month of January, 9.4 inches has fallen in Kingston so
far. That is more rainfall this January than during any January in
the 23-year record. The previous high in Kingston for the month of
January was 8.3 inches in 2006.
As you can see from the chart, this year’s rainfall in Kingston
(blue line) was tracking slightly above the record until early
December, when it took off at a higher rate. January burst forth at
an even higher rate.
The pattern was similar for Hansville to the north, where rains
have been falling hard. Extremely high rainfall in November of 2010
established a record for that year that will be difficult to beat
in our northernmost community.
So far this year, Poulsbo (KPUD office) has been tracking the
maximum water year fairly closely since October. January 2016 is
the wettest recorded at this site. So far in January, it has
recorded 11.6 inches. The previous high, 11.2 inches, was recorded
in 1998. Thanks to Mark Morgan at the PUD for this analysis.
Central Kitsap near Bremerton caught up with the maximum water
year this past week. And Holly lags behind the maximum water year
of 1999 but well above the 26-year average.
If you haven’t noticed, the Kitsap Peninsula is a rather strange
place for measuring the rain. Historically the northern tip gets
about half the annual rainfall as the southwest part.
For the Pacific region as a whole. the well-publicized El Niño
effect has grown stronger, becoming one of the strongest El Niño
years since at least the 1950s. But that is about to change. Based
on sea surface temperatures, we have just passed the peak of the El
Niño, and most models suggest that ocean conditions will transition
to a neutral pattern by summer. See
El Niño forecast graph and the narrative by the
Climate Prediction Center (PDF 707 kb).
According to the CPC report, “El Niño has already produced
significant global impacts and is expected to affect temperature
and precipitation patterns across the United States during the
upcoming months.”
According to predictions, temperatures should remain above
average for at least the next three months. Meanwhile,
precipitation is expected to continue above average for the next
week or so, decline to average in about a month, then remain below
average until at least the first part of May. For a quick look at
this graphically, check out the interactive display.
Meanwhile, as the Northwest and Great Lakes regions experience
drier than average conditions over the next few months, California
and the Southwest states, along with Florida and the Gulf states,
will see above-average rainfall.
As observed by the Climate Prediction Center:
“Since we are now past the peak of the El Niño event in terms of
SST anomalies, the relevant questions relate to how quickly the
event decays and whether we see a transition to La Niña, which
frequently follows on the heels of El Niño event, the CPC SST
consolidation forecasts a return to neutral conditions by
May-June-July and a 79 percent chance of La Niña by next
winter.”
The following video describes the current El Niño
conditions.
Kingston’s sewage treatment plant could provide irrigation water
for the nearby White Horse Golf Course and possibly other uses
under a plan now in development.
Kitsap County commissioners recently signed a $325,000
“predesign” contract with Brown and Caldwell engineers. The firm
was hired to answer a host of questions about the feasibility of
producing high-quality effluent at the plant and then putting the
clean water to good use.
“We’re just starting to look at the whole project,” said Barbara
Zaroff of Kitsap County’s Wastewater Division. “We just had our
kickoff meeting two weeks ago, and now Brown and Caldwell will be
going out to collect data.”
I peppered Barbara with questions that she could not answer at
this point, because the detail work is yet to be done. But we know
from a previous study by
Golder Associates (PDF 18.2 mb) that producing high-quality
effluent in Kingston is more than a random thought.
Golder found benefits from using the water for supplementing
flows in nearby Grover’s Creek while recharging much-needed
groundwater in that area of the county. The Suquamish Tribe, which
owns White Horse Golf Course, has expressed interest in acquiring
the water if various issues can be resolved.
The Kingston treatment plant, completed in 2005, produces an
average of 150,000 gallons of effluent per day, currently
discharged into Appletree Cove. As population grows, the plant can
be expanded to about 300,000 gallons per day.
It appears it would be cost-effective to treat the water to
tertiary standards with sand filters, although other technologies
will be explored. A pond could be built on or near the golf course,
which would store the water for irrigation and allow infiltration
into the ground. The available water should provide the needs of
the course with plenty of water left over.
Discharging into a wetland that feeds into Grover’s Creek is
another idea, along with providing irrigation at the county’s North
Kitsap Heritage Park. Unused water might still be discharged into
Puget Sound, particularly in winter months when irrigation water is
not needed.
One question that always arises with reclaimed water is what
happens to trace amounts of chemicals that pass through the
treatment process, such as pharmaceutical drugs that mimic
hormones. We know from studies that some of these chemicals can
affect the growth, development and metabolism of fish in some
situations.
An analysis by
Golder Associates (PDF 18.2 mb) concluded that future treatment
processes in the Kingston plant would remove between 80 and 97
percent of endocrine disrupting compounds coming into the plant.
Environmental conditions where reclaimed water is discharged would
degrade the chemicals further, so the overall risk would be low for
salmon and other fish, according to the report.
The new study is expected to look further into the risks.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Ecology is continuing to work on
a new
reclaimed-water rule that could improve permitting and
monitoring by producers of reclaimed water.
The Kingston project would be similar to what is happening at
the Central Kitsap Wastewater Treatment Plant near Brownsville,
where construction is adding sand filters as part of an overall
upgrade to the plant.
Work continues at the Central
Kitsap Wastewater Treatment Plant // File photo: Kitsap Sun,
Feb. 4, 2014
The nearby Silverdale Water District has installed about 15,000
feet of “purple pipe” for reclaimed water on the major arterials of
Silverdale, including Silverdale Way. The project is part of the
water district’s major pipe-replacement project. Another 2,000 feet
will be added as part of the Bucklin Hill Bridge project, General
Manager Morgan Johnson told me.
Much of the new commercial construction in Silverdale is being
designed to use reclaimed water for irrigation, and some buildings
are being plumbed to use reclaimed water for flushing toilets and
other secondary uses. Ballfields in the area could get some of the
water.
A public-outreach program is being planned to educate the public
about reclaimed water and to answer questions that people may have.
Under the current schedule, the reclaimed-water valve would be
turned on in 2020, but that date may be pushed back, Morgan
said.
In Kingston, it will take about a year to put the information
together and identify a preferred alternative, Barbara told me.
Final engineering and design will follow under a new contract if
things go as expected.
The current contract will examine pipeline routes to convey the
water to the potential users. Costs for building and operating the
system will be explored.
Yet to be determined is how costs and benefits of the reclaimed
water will be shared between the county, which owns the treatment
facilities, and those who will use the water. That goes for both
Kingston and Central Kitsap.
Many golf courses across the country — especially in the arid
Southwest — are using reclaimed water for irrigation. In a few
places where water is in extremely short supply, water systems have
begun adding the clean effluent straight into their drinking water.
Check out reporter Emily Schmall’s story for
the Associated Press.
While water is still somewhat plentiful in the Puget Sound area,
it only makes sense to find uses for freshwater that would
otherwise be dumped into salty Puget Sound.
Folks concerned about wild salmon in North Kitsap are
celebrating the Legislature’s funding of $2.8 million for the
long-awaited bridge at the mouth of Carpenter Creek near
Kingston.
The project has been on and off for a decade, as I explained in
story I wrote for the
Kitsap Sun in December. The lobbying effort by bridge
supporters, including the Kitsap County commissioners, was intense.
That and continued support from Kitsap’s legislators are credited
with getting the bridge funded.
It seems unlikely that bids for the bridge project can be
advertised and contracts approved in time for this summer’s
construction season, given the need to work around salmon
migration. But we’ll wait and see how things are scheduled.
Leaders of the state’s environmental groups were disappointed
that the Legislature failed to raise a tax on toxic chemicals,
which would have set aside $100 million a year for stormwater
projects. Addressing stormwater is considered the top priority for
improving the water quality of Puget Sound and other waterways. Continue reading →
