State award honors city wastewater treatment

The City of Shelton's wastewater treatment plant and water reclamation plant both received the Outstanding Performance Award for 2023 from the state Department of Ecology.

The awards were presented to staff members Sept. 3 at the Shelton City Council meeting. A DOE representative told the council the award goes "to plants that have basically had a perfect year, that being there were no violations or anything like that on their permit."

Brent Armstrong, the superintendent of public works, praised his crew and said the awards are "a testament to their work."

"They're the ones when it's pouring rain, everybody's at home, they all have to come in and make sure that everything is running correctly at the treatment plant," he told the council.

"This is an award the city of Shelton has received a number of times, because the hard work of these guys every day, making sure we're meeting standards set by the state," City Manager Mark Ziegler said. "A lot of treatment plants don't meet (it), frankly. We can be quite proud of that. It's a duty to our ratepayers and our customers and the environment and our partners out in the community and we've seen some of the improvements by opening further shellfish grounds in Oakland Bay because of the work being put in, particularly the wastewater treatment plant."

The wastewater treatment plant cleans 848 million gallons of water each year.

When water flows down a sink or toilet drain into the city's sewer lines, it eventually ends up at the wastewater treatment plant for processing. During treatment, organic solids are extracted and the remaining wastewater is run through digesters with microorganisms that destroy most of the disease-causing bacteria. The wastewater then passes through powerful ultraviolet sterilizers that eliminate any remaining bacteria before it is safely returned to the environment.

According to the city's website, employees conduct multiple tests at both plants on a daily, monthly and yearly basis to verify the city meets or exceeds state requirements and regulations, in order to prevent discharge into Oakland Bay and to ensure the safe discharge of reclaimed water to customers.

In an interview with the Journal, Armstrong said that each month the department submits lab test results to DOE.

"A single misstep and you're out," he said of the state honor. "It's a 'running-perfect' award."

He added, "Plants get older, equipment fails. It's key to have staff that can adjust on the fly."