Puget Sound wastewater plants may need billions to meet state mandates

This ongoing issue of the environmental community asking for stronger controls over pollution may be reaching the limits of the public’s ability to spend for it. For example, this is very much a cost that will be incurred by both Port Townsend and Port Angeles. That this is being discussed in a journal for bond buyers speaks volumes to the issue alone. This article is behind a paywall but the jist is clear.


An effort to protect Puget Sound’s marine life has ignited a debate over a new environmental mandate that wastewater treatment plants say will cost billions and lacks clear science to back it up. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a permit, effective in January 2022, that requires municipal wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Sound — there are 58 of them — to reduce the amount of certain nutrients in their discharge.  Caitlin Devitt reports.

Puget Sound wastewater plants may need billions to meet state mandates | Bond Buyer




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