History of King County's Regional Wastewater Treatment Utility

Building regional facilities

Challenging problems faced engineers as Metro's sewer construction program got under way. Hilly terrain, high water tables and Lake Washington itself were a few of the obstacles.

Crews built miles of tunnels with sections up to 18.5 feet in diameter. To move sewage from the Kenmore area to a new Matthews Beach pump station in north Seattle, Metro built a 7-mile-long pipeline underwater pipe along the shore of Lake Washington. The pipe, supported by concrete pilings, was built offshore to avoid tearing up neighborhoods. From Matthews Beach, Metro built a 3.3-mile sewer tunnel to Seattle's old North Trunk sewer in the University District.

By the end of the first 10-year construction program, Metro had built dozens of wastewater pump stations and more than 100 miles of large trunk lines and interceptor sewers.

Renton Treatment Plant, under construction, 1963
Renton Treatment Plant
(Under construction, 1963)

West Point Treatment Plant Dedication,
July 20, 1966
Dedication speech by James R. Ellis

During this period, Metro finished its wastewater treatment plants. In July 1962, Metro dedicated the small Carkeek Park Treatment Plant, and in October that year, Metro acquired the West Point beach from the U.S. Army. In February 1963, the first treatment plant effluent was diverted from Lake Washington to a new interceptor sewer. And in April that year, the Richmond Beach Treatment Plant was finished.

On July 22, 1965, the Renton Treatment Plant was dedicated (external link). And on July 20, 1966, citizens, dignitaries and Metro employees gathered to celebrate the dedication of the West Point Treatment Plant (external link). On March 30, 1967, the Lake City Treatment Plant was closed (external link) -- ending the flow of effluent into Lake Washington less than nine years after Metro was formed.

Seattle attorney James R. Ellis, who inspired and led the campaign to create Metro, saluted volunteers and called for a dedication to further advances against environmental abuse in an eloquent, definitive speech at the dedication of the West Point plant.

The cost of construction under the 10-year sewerage plan was $125 million. In fact, the construction cost for the first stage was only 2 percent over the 1961 estimate. Metro paid for construction by selling revenue bonds to be repaid by monthly sewer bill receipts

The Metro Council decided to follow a voluntary program for connecting local systems to the metropolitan sewer system. Eventually, all municipal utilities and sewer districts within the Lake Washington and Green River watersheds entered standard contracts with Metro for wastewater treatment.

Metro has never directly billed individual property owners for sewer service. Instead, it bills cities and sewer districts a wholesale rate based on the number of customers they serve, and those agencies collect Metro's fee as part of their regular sewer billing.

Local money paid all but 4 percent of the total cost of Metro's construction program. Area residents not only undertook an innovative effort to form Metro, but they also paid for the system themselves. Very little federal money was involved in the first 10-year construction program.

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