Congressman Rick Larsen is ready to throw his support behind Bellingham’s upcoming Post Point Wastewater Management Facility construction project, a $220 million repair to the aging sewage management facility.
Larsen toured the facility with employees and city representatives Friday, and asked questions about the project, how the incineration process works, the aging infrastructure and federal financial support.
Superintendent of plants Steve Bradshaw, right, points out different facilities around the plant to Rep. Rick Larsen. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
“I wanted to come by and see this project in the context of potential federal funding for the city of Bellingham to replace their old technology with state-of-the-art technology,” Larsen told the Cascadia Daily News after the tour. “There will be a federal role in helping to replace what they have here, and we want to be supportive of this.”
Larsen has visited several other wastewater and sewage treatment plants and said Bellingham’s stands out because of its older technology. Throughout the tour, employees told Larsen about their struggles repairing the plant’s aging facilities and operating systems.
“We’re finding replacement parts on eBay,” said Jenny Eakins, one of the operators at the plant. “Lots of these parts are just not made anymore.”
Operator Jenny Eakins explains how the gravity belts function when processing sludge. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
Sludge cake turns in a processor before incineration. The plant reduced water content to 24%. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
The computer and control systems are in desperate need of replacement, too, said Steve Bradshaw, the superintendent of the facility.
“Manufacturers actually won’t work on our system anymore,” he told Larsen. “We’re really limited by the age of our computers.”
Superintendent of plants Steve Bradshaw shows the inside computer system used to run the plant, which is severely out of date. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
Bradshaw said they’ll have to bring in a significantly larger team once the facility is updated.
“We’ve been asking this question of, ‘How are we going to split operations management when the facility is significantly bigger?’” he told Friday’s tour group.
Eakins, one of the highest trained operators in the state, said it can take years to get fully certified, so it’s vital to start training new operators before construction begins.
Larsen, who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said infrastructure projects like Post Point are vital to the community, as well as environmental health.
“This project is a necessary part of the infrastructure in Bellingham,” he said. “This is a big investment. Infrastructure investment means jobs. Infrastructure investment means cleaner water. Infrastructure investment can help us keep our environment clean, or make it cleaner.”
In early July, the Bellingham City Council voted to submit the Post Point project construction plans to the state Department of Ecology for review, and they believe the project will be given the green light by November.
According to city staff, the next steps are communications strategies, “end-use product” proposals, rate proposals and contractor selections.
“There’s a lot of steps here,” said Mike Olinger, the city’s assistant director of operations and maintenance. “We’re hoping to have the contractor on board by the end of the year, rates approved by Nov. 7 and hoping to start construction in 2024.”
Sludge is incinerated at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
Current cost estimates put the project at around $220 million, but Olinger said that’s just the preliminary costs.
“$220 million is just the cost for the digestion process,” he said. “Whatever comes after digestion will be an additional cost to that.”
Bellingham’s mayor Seth Fleetwood also attended the tour.
“Congressman Larsen’s support means a lot,” Fleetwood said. “It’s always nice to know that somebody who’s got his hands on the federal machinery is right here in Bellingham.”
