La Conner wastewater treatment plant turns waste into cash

Large and small gatherings alike have been nixed statewide and around the nation due to the evolving coronavirus outbreak.

But a rare scheduled event that came off as planned took place here in La Conner last Friday.

It was the bi-annual tour of La Conner’s award-winning wastewater treatment plant, which not only transformed the town when built in the 1970s but has in recent years embraced composting biosolids to generate a much-in-demand product sought by commercial and residential users.

Mayor Ramon Hayes, Town Administrator Scott Thomas, Town Council member John Leaver, and the Weekly News met with plant superintendent Kelly Wynn and lead operator Curtis McCauley for the one-hour tour.

“I thought it was a good tour,” Hayes said afterward. “It’s something we try to do every few years just to provide an update on what’s happening out there and remind people how valuable the plant is to our town.”

Prior to its construction, La Conner was dotted by septic tanks and meandering ditches that would on occasion fill with human waste overflow.

The plant’s construction had a major economic ripple effect, raising local property values and enticing a wave of residential and commercial investment here, especially on La Conner’s historic waterfront.

Wynn said that in terms of financing options, the timing was right 46 years ago for La Conner to make the move to secondary sewage treatment.

“Ninety per cent of the cost was covered through the federal Clean Water Act,” he explained.

Nearly a half-century later, the plant has undergone several facelifts and changes, yet still operates at just over 50 per cent of its maximum capacity, Hayes and Wynn said.

The original plan was for the plant to serve the Town, Swinomish Tribal Community, and Shelter Bay. Shelter Bay eventually constructed its own plant, but its biosolids – nutrient-rich sewage sludges that can be used as soil conditioners – are treated at the La Conner plant.

In fact, septage from throughout North Puget Sound is brought to the La Conner plant for treatment.

As Wynn and McCauley walked the tour group through the plant’s maze of infrastructure – from oxidation ditches to composting storage bays – a septic service truck from San Juan Island arrived to deliver its contents.

Receiving septage and treating it to create useful biosolids has become what Wynn termed a “golden goose.”

“Nobody much wants to deal with septage,” Wynn said, “but for us it works and it’s cheap.”

Originally, biosolids from the La Conner plant were sent to Eastern Washington for application on ag land there. After it began receiving waste from the Washington State Ferry System, thus creating more biosolids, an incentive emerged at the La Conner plant to turn those sludges into a revenue source.

Today, the La Conner plant receives wastewater through its collection system, septage delivered by haulers and biosolids brought in from other treatment plants.

“We’re a regional recipient,” Wynn said. “Our capacity allows us to receive and compost. We don’t have to ship (biosolids) to Eastern Washington.”

That’s not all.

Wynn said the City of Mount Vernon, area landscapers and local residents bring their yard waste to the La Conner plant.

“Wastewater treatment plants are typically quiet places that nobody wants to go to,” said Wynn, “but we get a lot of people out here.” And they are paying customers.

Even in the midst of the COVID-19 threat.

Wynn noted that viruses are killed by the treatment plant process within two days. The compost piles reach temperatures of at least 140 degrees. They smoke. Viruses don’t survive there, either.