LYNNWOOD — It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Fifteen people, mostly Lynnwood residents, entered a room roughly the size of a basketball court and walked down a path marked by metal railings during a tour of the Lynnwood Wastewater Treatment Facility on Thursday, Nov. 10.
The floor is really the top of a vault that’s as large as the room and at least 10 feet deep.
Harry Dahm, operations manager at the Lynnwood Wastewater Treatment Facility, opened a hatch and Lynnwood University students, who were taking a free annual class about how the city works, peered inside.
A breath-taking stench wafted up from the brown-gray gloppy soup, known as wastewater — this is the stuff that goes down your toilet.
The Public Works Department is charged with collecting it, making it safe enough to dispose of and disposing of it. Built in 1962, the plant treats about 5 million gallons of wastewater a day. The plant’s peak capacity is about 7.4 million gallons a day.
“This is the most expensive operation in the city,” Dahm said about the treatment plant. “It has the most working parts.”
When the Public Works Department does its job right, few people think about what they do. The Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining streets and signals, protecting the environment, providing clean water and treating sewage, said public works director Bill Franz. The department also drafts, manages or approves of major capital facility projects in the city.
“We develop, manage and operate the city’s infrastructure. That is the foundation of the city’s health, safety and welfare,” Franz said. “Water. Sewer. Streets. It is the basics of what we take for granted every day.”
The 70 employees in the Public Works Department work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep the city’s infrastructure functioning and they are “extremely dedicated” to the job, said Franz. They have to be dedicated to maintain 104 miles of sewer main pipes, 120 miles of water main pipes, 100 miles of underground water drains and 295 lane miles of streets.
There is so much going on in the department that it can be hard to keep track of it all, Franz said.
For the public’s safety, government agencies keep a close eye on the Public Works Department’s daily operations in Lynnwood and all Washington state cities. State and city workers routinely test the city’s facilities to make sure the drinking water is safe and sewage is treated and disposed of properly.
Lynnwood Wastewater Treatment Facility earned the state Department of Ecology Outstanding Performance Award of 2004 for a job well done. The award honors plants that had no spills in Washington waters and passed every environmental test. Lynnwood is one of 44 of the 305 plants statewide to receive the award for 2004.
The department, which has an annual budget of roughly $15 million, receives its funding from a variety of sources. The department receives utility fees from sewer and water customers, government grants, taxes and development contributions to name a few.
The challenge is many of those funds can only be used for particular purposes, Franz said. Monies collected from sewer bills are used to operate the sewer system. The city receives a portion of the state gas tax, but it has to be reserved for street projects.
The department is always looking for ways to do the job as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible, Franz said. New technology is making that possible.
Old fashioned traffic signals are programmed to turn green, yellow or red in certain timed intervals. They don’t matter where the cars are or where they are going.
The city of Lynnwood is about halfway through installing an “Intelligent Transportation System,” which is funded by a $5 million grant. The system uses computers, remote sensors and cameras to give city workers greater control over when and how traffic signals operate.
The remote sensors and cameras can detect when vehicles are approaching, waiting at or going through an intersection. The system changes the timing of traffic signals by a few seconds to move more vehicles. The system can also be used for traffic studies.
“It is a powerful way to study an intersection without having someone sitting out there for hours and hours,” Franz said. “We can watch and record it from city hall. Those cameras, by ordinance, can only be used for collection of traffic data or if there is a traffic emergency, such as a large fire or large traffic accident.”
Vehicles speeding through neighborhoods is also a major concern in the city, Franz said. The department is preparing a traffic calming program to present to the city council next year.
“We are always working smarter, stretching our dollar to do more with it,” Franz said.
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