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Hard work pays off! Brightwater (including Brightwater Recycled Water), Vashon, and Carnation treatment plants all earned the 2024 Outstanding Performance Award from the Washington State Department of Ecology. Our skilled operators and staff make sure our treatment plants run 24/7 to keep our waters clean and communities healthy. We appreciate them for everything they do!
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Learn more about the performance awards and the operators who make sure your wastewater gets safely treated:
Interested in a career as a wastewater operator?
Applications for King County’s Operator-in-Training (OIT) Program is opening later this year! This six-month program includes paid, on-the-job training for careers in wastewater operations that can lead to Washington State certification and job opportunities. Learn more about the award-winning approach to building a new generation of talent. Stay tuned for more details.
What was it like to be the first woman operator at a King County treatment plant?
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In late summer, crews completed maintenance on several sediment traps at Brightwater. Sediment is made up of tiny pieces of dirt and debris. When it builds up, it can make water cloudy and carry pollutants that reduce oxygen levels and threaten habitat. This harms fish, plants, and other wildlife.
The Brightwater natural areas include ponds that support wildlife such as birds and frogs. These ponds act as natural filters that help slow and clean water runoff. The sediment traps play an important role too. They prevent sediment from building up and entering nearby ponds, streams, and wetlands. This protects salmon-bearing streams and helps improve water quality. It also reduces the need for costly cleanup or maintenance downstream. Crews cleaned the sediment traps at Brightwater as part of routine site stewardship.
A sediment trap in a retention pond at the Brightwater Treatment Plant undergoes routine maintenance.
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Join King County, in partnership with IslandWood, to celebrate World Toilet Day! We will have an assortment of hands-on activities for all ages, demonstrating how modern toilets and water sanitation help protect human and environmental health. Take a tour of the treatment plant, view wastewater microbes up close, make a paper-pot to fill with biosolid compost, and more!
Sign up for a Treatment Plant tour at the event. Treatment Plant tour participants must be at least 9 years old.
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Ever wonder why your jack-o-lanterns start to droop after Halloween? Why does your compost pile smell so bad? What happens to all of the fall leaves after they land on the ground? Join IslandWood, in partnership with King County, as we dig up the dirt on decomposition. We’ll learn about the tiny critters who make the world go round by processing the nutrients in our ponds, our soils, and even our own poop! There will be crafts, soil and water investigations, and Halloween-y fun galore. Costumes encouraged!
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Our Conveyance Inspection team recently added a sewer cleaning truck to their roster! This powerful truck uses filtered wastewater to blast away sediment, wipes (don’t flush them!), oils and grease (don’t put it down the drain!), and vacuums up the mess — all without interrupting service or needing to bypass flows.
Taking care of more than 380 miles of King County-owned sewer pipes extends the lifespan of aging infrastructure and keeps debris from costly damage to pumps and equipment downstream.
 WTD’s Conveyance Inspection team sets up along a residential street in Black Diamond with their new sewer cleaning truck.
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 Yuck! Grease going down the drain can cause serious problems in our sewers and your house drains and pipes.
Do you know what should and shouldn’t get flushed down a toilet or sent down a drain? The next time you go to flush, remember the four Ps are the only things to flush – pee, poop, puke, and (toilet) paper. Everything else, including flushable wipes and even hair, belongs in the trash.
You also want to avoid sending fats, oils, and grease (FOG) down the drain. FOG sticks to the inside of pipes and builds up over time. They can block an entire pipe which means big (and stinky) problems and can be expensive to fix.
This fall and winter, remember the four P’s and say no to FOG!
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Sign up for The Bubbler newsletter to follow King County Wastewater Treatment Division’s latest news and updates on clean water investments. Get caught up by checking out the past issues, available on our website.
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Interpretation and translation services are available to you at no cost. If you need them, please contact Brightwater@kingcounty.gov or call 206-296-7432. Please leave a message with your phone number and language if you would like a call back.
Los servicios de interpretación y traducción disponibles para usted sin costo alguno. Si los necesita, comuníquese con Brightwater@kingcounty.gov o llame al 206-296-7432. Deje un mensaje de voz con su número de teléfono y su idioma si desea que le regresen la llamada.
免費為您提供口譯和筆譯服務。如果您需要這些服 務，請聯絡 Brightwater@kingcounty.gov.
免费为您提供口译和笔译服务。如果您需要这些服 务，请联络 Brightwater@kingcounty.gov.
Alternative Formats Available: 206-477-5371 or TTY Relay: 711
Formatos alternativos disponibles: 206-477-5371 o retransmisión TTY: 711
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