Being a Good Neighbor During Construction

Building or upgrading facilities

Pump stations are needed at points in the pipelines to carry wastewater around lakes or over hills. Most of King County’s 42 pump stations were built in the 1960s. Some are reaching the end of their useful lifespan and need replacement.

The visible aboveground structure is only a portion of a pump station construction project. Pump stations generally require several floors below ground for mechanical rooms and odor control and ventilation facilities. New pump stations require a lot of excavation and several acres of land to serve as a staging area during construction and a buffer once construction is complete. Shoring methods like piling are needed to build underground supports.

The amount of land required for pump station construction or upgrades can vary widely. King County might use property it already owns, though sometimes it is necessary to acquire new property to accommodate the facilities. People can expect construction to last about three years. Typical impacts of building a pump station project are noise, dust, and construction vehicle traffic.

See also:

• Cut-and-cover or trenching
• Trenchless methods—tunneling and drilling
• Mitigation to minimize construction impacts

Updated: Dec. 6, 2005