A very political process, the siting of the Brightwater sewage treatment plant, has ended. The Highway 9 site in Snohomish County, just north of Woodinville, is the winner — or loser, depending on your point of view.
Distasteful as it was for many on this side of the county line to watch the King County executive decide unilaterally that the plant would go in Snohomish County, there are ample and valid arguments for the site selected. It’s time to move on, ensure that Snohomish County code is followed in the construction process and build a facility that will ensure responsible growth can continue here well into the future.
The need for the plant, whether it’s in 2010 (as King County insists) or later, is clear. The recent economic slump notwithstanding, growth will be a constant for this county for decades to come, and we must have the infrastructure to support it.
Brightwater’s state-of-the-art treatment system will allow growth to occur in an environmentally responsible way, and the project holds promise for enhancing the area around it. The plant’s design includes natural buffers and a net increase in wetlands, and comes with $88 million in mitigation funds that can be used for projects like salmon enhancement in Little Bear Creek and an environmental-education center for school children.
Neighbors understandably worry about smell. The plant will employ a four-state air-treatment process that King County promises will ensure no detectable odor. Neighbors also worry about potential contamination of groundwater, and Snohomish County must take all reasonable steps to satisfy itself that drinking water is protected — that’s part of its responsibility in the permit-issuing process. To its credit, King County appears to have addressed each of Snohomish County’s major concerns in its final environmental impact statement. The final plan also puts most of the plant’s conveyance system in King County.
No one wants a sewer plant, or a jail, or other such public facilities near where they live. Renton, which hosts one of King County’s two existing treatment plants, fought any idea of a major expansion there. It stings when residents have no direct control, not even at the ballot box, over those who make siting decisions. But King County runs the sewage treatment system that serves a substantial piece of south Snohomish County, and state law gives it the power to site it here. That law may need to be changed, but not retroactively.
It’s possible that Brightwater might someday become an affordable solution to sewage-capacity problems faced in Monroe, Snohomish and Lake Stevens. At a minimum, it will forestall the need for a future building moratorium that could devastate our economy.
Its benefits for Snohomish County outweigh its costs.
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