History of King County's Regional Wastewater Treatment Utility

Planning the Metro system

The first meeting of Metro's governing body, the Metropolitan Council, took place in October 1958. Originally, the Metro Council had 16 members and included elected officials from Seattle, King County and smaller cities. When the state Legislature enlarged boundaries of Metro in 1971, the council expanded to 36 members.

In the 1980s, more representatives from the City of Bellevue, sewer districts in the Metro service area, and unincorporated areas brought the total to 40 members.

The council's first major action was to adopt the comprehensive sewage plan. The major elements of this plan had been prepared before the election as a joint effort by the state, King County and the City of Seattle. The plan called for removing all treatment plant discharges from Lake Washington and abandoning all 10 small treatment plants on its shores.

Under the plan, Metro would build four wastewater treatment plants--at Renton, West Point, Carkeek Park and Richmond Beach. Metro would take over operation of the City of Seattle's new sewage treatment plant at Alki beach. And Metro would build large interceptor sewer lines around Lake Washington, on the Duwamish Waterway and along Seattle's commercial waterfront, Elliott Bay.

Metro opened its first office on June 1, 1959. On May 4, 1961, it published its first call for construction bids-for the Richmond Beach and Carkeek Park treatment plants.

Groundbreaking for the construction program took place on July 20, 1961, at the site of the Renton Treatment Plant, now called the South Treatment Plant. The secondary treatment plant would be built on 53 acres bought from the Great Northern Railroad and the Earlington golf course. In its first phase, the plant would treat an average dry-weather flow of 24 million gallons a day.

And on July 1, 1962, Metro took over operation of all treatment plants, major trunk sewers and pump stations within its boundaries.

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For questions about the Wastewater Treatment Division Web site, please send an e-mail message. For general information about the division, contact us at:

Department of Natural Resources and Parks
Wastewater Treatment Division
201 S. Jackson St., Suite 505
Seattle, WA 98104-3855
Phone: 206-684-1280
Fax: 206-684-1741
Telecommunication device for the deaf (TTY): 711

Updated: Oct. 12, 2005
 

Related Information:
Milestones - King County Sesquicentennial (1852-2002)

HistoryLink.org -- the Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (external link)

The History of Sanitary Sewers (external link)