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40th Anniversary Special Announcement
Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005 , 1:30-2:30 p.m.
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Good afternoon! And welcome to this 40th anniversary celebration of wastewater treatment for our region at the South Treatment Plant.
As you drove through the plant site this afternoon, you may have wondered about the structures you were passing. Several of them are newer facilities in this 40-year-old plant:
- a system for reclaiming water for landscape irrigation and industrial uses …
- a fuel cell power plant for generating electricity using methane gas and produces no harmful emissions …
- a cogeneration system that uses methane to produce power for the plant and recover heat …
- And near us here, facilities that produce nutrient-rich biosolids from wastewater treatment for beneficial uses as a soil amendment in agriculture, forestry and compost.
I mention these facilities -- which recycle and reuse a natural resource -- because they symbolize what this plant has become and what our wastewater treatment system will continue to do as we move into the next 40 years.
Today we are commemorating four decades of wastewater treatment – the No. 1 method for cleaning up water pollution and improving water quality in our region. Thanks to this plant and other plants, pipelines and pump stations, our regional wastewater treatment system has been a success in protecting public health and the environment.
We have cleaned up Lake Washington. We have enhanced the water quality of other lakes, rivers and streams in our region. And we have cleaned up beaches along Puget Sound. But there is still more we can and must do to protect and restore Puget Sound – where all our water eventually flows.
That will require the continuing interest, energy and power of people in King County and throughout our region. I've talked about the effectiveness of our wastewater treatment facilities, but our system is more than concrete and steel. We depend on people who inspire, guide, plan, build, lead and operate our clean-water system to make sure all the gears mesh.
That's the way it's been for 40 years of wastewater treatment in our region – and even longer. I want to express my sincere appreciation to all the people who deserve recognition for the clean water we enjoy in King County and beyond. Without their efforts in planning, building and operating this wastewater treatment plant – and without their involvement in the clean-water agency that operates our treatment system, we would not -- we could not -- be celebrating today.
From the early days, beginning more than 40 years ago, volunteers were vital partners in protecting and enhancing water quality in our region. Active, concerned citizens formed the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, or Metro, to treat wastewater and solve other regional problems. And volunteers continued to make things work – from serving on the former Citizens' Water Quality Advisory Committee to collecting water samples from lakes to earning community action grants for improving water quality.
Unfortunately, not all our volunteer partners during the past 40 years could be here today. It would also be difficult to give personal recognition in this setting to each individual. So perhaps our past clean-water volunteers who could make it here today can raise their hands as we applaud their efforts.
I would like to highlight one longtime citizen activist. Fifty years ago, in 1955, James R. Ellis recognized that wastewater discharges into Lake Washington and Puget Sound were a regional pollution problem. Jim (who's busy elsewhere today) and a growing body of citizens agreed that no single jurisdiction could deal with the problem. So he led the citizen effort to create Metro and then build this plant and the rest of the wastewater system.
That successful campaign led to many significant decisions through the years by elected officials at the local, state and federal levels. The names of key players in the early days of cleaning our waters are still recognizable today: Seattle Mayor Gordon Clinton, Democratic State Senator Robert R. Grieve, Republican Senator William Goodloe, freshman Republican Representative Daniel J. Evans, House Speaker John L. O'Brien, and newly elected Governor Albert Rosellini.
Our local and state leaders worked and continue to work with our Congressional delegation and federal agencies in supporting the growth and operation of our wastewater system.
From the 1960s into the ‘90s, the Metro Council -- with elected representatives from King County, Seattle, suburban cities and local sewer districts – set the direction for Metro to follow in building and operating the agency's wastewater treatment and water quality programs. Gary Zimmerman, chair of the Metro Council in the 1980s, is here today and will reflect shortly on that innovative era. And now, the King County Council and County Executive work daily to represent and lead our communities in protecting the water quality of our lakes, rivers, streams, aquifers, wetlands and Puget Sound.
Our communities, of course, are our customers. Our customers include the 1.4 million people in our service area who pay monthly rates for wastewater treatment. And our customers include the leaders and staffs of the 17 cities and 17 local sewer utilities that contract with King County to provide wastewater treatment. Their role – in collecting the wastewater we treat and in collecting the sewer rates that pay for conveying and treating wastewater – is essential. Terri Briere, City Council president for Renton, host city for this plant, will also be speaking to us. I believe other representatives of our component agencies are here today. Let's give them – and our ratepayers -- a hand.
Today's event launches a public celebration of our anniversary that includes an open house here this Saturday. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the public is invited to tour this treatment plant and learn about the past, present and future of our regional wastewater treatment utility. Visitors will be able to see historical displays and photographs, shake a fin of Bert the Salmon, and see how the plant recycles treated wastewater for beneficial uses.
Metro and King County have also had effective, successful relationships with our partners in business and industry that also deserve recognition. Those partners include consultants and contractors that design and build our facilities. They include companies that help us do our jobs better by pretreating their discharges to the wastewater system. They include employers who provide the jobs are customers need in this growing region. And they include the unions that represent and strengthen our vital labor force. Let's applaud representatives of business, industry and labor who joined us today.
Also essential to our continuing success are the individuals, environmental groups and community activists who help make sure we site, design, build and operate wastewater facilities that are good neighbors while protecting public health and the environment. In our democratic society, their role is essential. Let's applaud them.
Finally, I want to thank past and present employees of our clean-water agency who daily meet the sometimes-competing goals, interests and plans of all the people I've already mentioned.
Thanks to nearly 140 dedicated employees, this plant's treatment system runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Trained professionals – operators, lab technicians, maintenance crew members, process control personnel and administrative staff – ensure the effective operation of this plant and the pipelines and pump stations that supply it with wastewater.
Other essential employees in the Wastewater Treatment Division support them: accountants and technical writers; construction managers and design engineers; water quality planners and flow-monitoring specialists; community relations planners and environmental specialists; administrative staff and computer technicians. They're aided by lab technicians, scientists and other staff in King County's Water and Land Resources Division.
Earlier today, we honored our retired and current employees during a luncheon celebration. For a change, our wastewater supervisors and managers were taking orders from their employees as management stood behind the grills preparing organic burgers, gardenburgers, baked beans and other fixins.
You've already met Don Theiler, current director of the county's Wastewater Treatment Division. I believe some of his most senior employees – and some retired employees -- are here this afternoon. Let's applaud them and all wastewater employees so loudly that workers back on their shifts in this plant can hear us.
One employee from long ago will be speaking to us shortly. As executive director of Metro from 1967-1974, Tom Gibbs is the most senior member of past wastewater treatment management who could join us. I'm sure he'll have some inspiring stories for us.
But as I end my retrospective on the past and present, I want to look into the future.
Puget Sound is critical to our quality of life in King County. It is a resource that brings jobs, products and tremendous pleasure to the residents of King County. It defines our region and our county.
Through the wastewater treatment system and other clean-water programs of King County, we've accomplished a lot to clean the water that flows to Puget Sound. But our work can't stop at the end of a pipe. King County must be the catalyst to protect and restore Puget Sound.
Five years ago, King County stepped up to the salmon recovery partnership in the Puget Sound region, and we have worked closely with the region's Shared Strategy initiative and its leader, Bill Ruckelshaus, since then. In July, that effort reached a major milestone with the submission of the Chinook salmon recovery plan to the federal government.
And now, just as we did with salmon recovery, King County will help lead the effort to unite a coalition of federal, state and local governments, universities, utilities, tribes, environmental organizations and residents to improve a resource that is at the core of our quality of life.
I began my comments mentioning some current innovations of King County's Wastewater Treatment Division to recycle and reuse a natural resource in safe, beneficial ways. And I've mentioned people and efforts during the past 40 years that channeled the creativity of our region toward cleaner water.
We must now build on that energy in a campaign that galvanizes the public to see the Puget Sound recovery as an urgent issue that's at least equal to cleaning up Lake Washington. We must direct public, private and personal resources and actions toward a single unified goal of a restored and protected Puget Sound.
Working together, we can define the problems facing Puget Sound in a way the public can understand. Working together, we can develop a unified Puget Sound recovery plan that tackles those problems with real and achievable results. And working together, we can create an entity that can and will carry out the Puget Sound recover plan.
Just as thousands of people have worked to clean up – and keep cleaning -- the waters of King County, we can protect and restore Puget Sound. We will do it by working together.
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Updated: Nov. 10, 2005
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