UPDATE, Feb. 12
Northwest Environmental Advocates has taken its case to court in an
effort to obtain a new Washington state sewage-treatment standard
under AKART — “All Known, Available and Reasonable Treatment.” For
information about the case, refer to the
NWEA news release and the
lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court.
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An environmental group, Northwest Environmental Advocates, is calling on the Washington Department of Ecology and Gov. Jay Inslee to invoke a 1945 law in hopes of forcing cities and counties to improve their sewage-treatment plants.
Photo: Eyes Over Puget Sound, Department of Ecology
In a petition to Ecology, the group says the state agency should require cities and counties to upgrade their plants to “tertiary treatment” before the wastewater gets discharged into Puget Sound. Such advanced treatment would remove excess nitrogen along with some toxic chemicals that create problems for sea life, according to Nina Bell, executive director of NWEA, based in Portland.
Most sewage-treatment plants in the region rely on “secondary treatment,” which removes most solids but does little to reduce nitrogen or toxic chemicals. Secondary treatment is an outdated process according to BOS and innovation with Ecology needs to lead the way to a more advanced treatment technology.
“It’s a travesty that cities around Puget Sound continue to use 100-year-old sewage-treatment technology when cities across the nation have demonstrated that solutions are available and practical,” Nina said.
