But LOTT officials said its ability to navigate the path will be difficult at best.
The draft of the ordinance headed to public hearing Saturday in front of the county Planning Commission would allow the sewer partners to discharge into the ground in areas where the travel time of the wastewater is at least five years to water wells serving three or more hookups.
The original ordinance prohibited treated wastewater to be infiltrated in those areas, which would have stopped LOTT dead in its tracks at four sites its earmarked for projects near the Olympia Airport and Rixie, Mullen and Stedman roads.
LOTT’s 20-year plan for managing wastewater calls for more recycling and reuse and less reliance on Budd Inlet discharges.
The revised draft keeps LOTT out of areas within one year travel time of drinking water supplies.
“We’ve been on board with that all along,” noted Karla Fowler, LOTT community relations and environmental policy director.
However, she said, the draft ordinance includes a number of permit conditions that could be costly to LOTT and its more than 90,000 ratepayers, Fowler said. They include:
• Increased monitoring of groundwater and surface water to search for pollutants associated with wastewater.
• A contingency plan to provide more advanced treatment of the wastewater and alternative water sources, if the infiltrated water degrades groundwater or surface water.
• Detailed hydrogeology studies to predict how the treated wastewater will behave.
The county also is considering a requirement that LOTT use a more advanced treatment system before introducing the wastewater into the ground, including such things as reverse osmosis and nanofiltration.
“It’s in the draft, but that will be the planning commission’s call,” county associate planner Andrew Deffobis said.
The advanced treatment systems could double the cost of treatment and plant operations, which could lead to a doubling of costs for sewer customers, LOTT executive director Michael Strub has said.
Deffobis said the county is simply trying to protect water supplies in the face of scientific uncertainty over the effect of unregulated contaminants such as pharmaceutical drugs and personal-care projects, which have been detected in treated wastewater.
Residents and businesses throughout the county depend on groundwater for their water.
Meanwhile, LOTT will launch a $1.4 million, four-year study next year to provide greater detail on how reclaimed wastewater interacts with groundwater. But the study won’t be completed before LOTT wants to start building its second reclaimed-wastewater site near the airport. The first one is at Hawks Prairie.
Besides the proposed county rules, LOTT also is governed by state Department of Ecology and Department of Health standards when it reuses and recycles reclaimed wastewater.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444
jdodge@theolympian.com
