PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners on Monday authorized the county Department of Community Development to proceed with a competitive bidding process for design services and membrane bioreactor equipment and construction for the proposed Port Hadlock wastewater facility.
The county commissioners’ action came after Joel Peterson, county associate planner and lead for the wastewater facility project, said the county would inform the only five companies in the U.S. that are vendors for membrane bioreactor equipment, which produce Class A wastewater capable of being reused.
“It has economic impact, including jobs and affordable housing” in Port Hadlock and surrounding Chimacum and Irondale, Peterson said of the wastewater project that has been in the planning stages for five years.
County Commissioner David Sullivan, D-Cape George, said the project was in line to be “shovel ready” for federal economic stimulus dollars from the Obama Administration.
After the bid request is advertised, the contract bids will be opened before the commissioners Aug. 3 and a contract awarded Sept. 4, Peterson said.
Peterson said expansion of the treatment facility in modules would be possible after 2014.
If all goes “like clockwork,” he said, the project would commence construction next year.
As planned, construction would start with pump stations and lines in the Tri-Area’s commercial core, including Rhody Drive.
The county has until 2024 to complete work on the system, which the state Department of Ecology estimates would cost about $27.3 million.
DOE has also made a preliminary determination that the sewage collection and treatment system construction project is 100 percent eligible for a State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund loan.
County officials said such water could be used to recharge fish-bearing Chimacum Creek at low-flow periods.
A map of the sewerage urban growth area can be seen at www.porthadlocksewer.org.
The second phase of the 20-year project would run north to Chimacum Creek and Irondale.
In response to the 1990 Growth Management Act, Jefferson County has been pursuing an urban growth area designation in the Irondale/Port Hadlock area since the GMA went into effect. As part of the requirements for establishing an urban growth area, the county has been working toward the development of a sewer system for the area.
Final facility plan approval would come once the Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have completed consultation, according to the DOE letter.
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
