Location: Pasco, Washington
Project size: 3.5 MGD
Facility size: 9.5 MGD
Budget cost: $18,221,431.38
Over a period of just 22 years, the City of Pasco, Washington, has gone from a modestly growing agricultural and rail yard community to realizing an exponential population boom. “New housing developments, apartments, and shopping centers on the western side of town coupled with industrial development led to sustained exponential growth,” said Craig Anderson, Consor principal wastewater technologist. “Pasco’s population increased by over 150% between 2000 and 2022 making the city one of the fastest-growing areas in both Washington State and the nation.”
In need of capacity enhancements for a treatment plant with equipment ranging from 35 to 55 years in age, the City of Pasco began a multi-decade modernization plan. Phase 1, an $18.2 million investment, took aim at a variety of construction projects including updates to effluent structures, aeration basins and the return activated sludge pumping equipment.
Special emphasis with these upgrades was placed on energy efficiency and sustainability measures. For example, fine bubble diffusers and turbo blowers were selected to improve treatment while reaching improved energy targets.
The regulatory approval for the project, however, only had a 10-month window for the approval process, and was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, government furloughs and funding constraints.
“During construction, global supply chain impacts threatened to delay this and subsequent critical projects,” Anderson said. “Working with the contractor, the contract management team (City of Pasco, Consor, and HDR) had direct conversations with suppliers on options as well as modified procurement procedures to maintain the schedule.”
These struggles required intense communication between the members of the construction management team to ensure the project stayed on schedule.
One stakeholder took precedence: the community. The city and its construction stakeholders took great effort to regularly update the public about the project to provide a deep level of transparency. These efforts extended beyond the general public meetings into local news and online streaming services to provide updates to the council and the public.
“Pasco routinely provides additional public communications, which for this project included updates at Council meeting and segments on the City’s ‘Pasco Pulse’ program on plant operations and construction progress,” Anderson said. “To be most effective, the city uses multiple formats to get the message out — both live (local TV channels and streams) and recorded (YouTube and Facebook).”
Transparency about the project’s purpose and progress was also owned by the operators and city workers who run the facility. Staff held tours of the treatment plant to show how the facility works for interested members of the public in addition to educational presentations about the project, which included one for the local chapter of Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Ultimately, these efforts fostered a broader understanding with the community and stakeholders for a project that has become a matter of pride.
“In a way this is a fairy tale project for us,” said Maria Serra, Pasco public works director. “When we set off to deliver this project, we did not know the journey we were in for. This project is a real testament to collaboration.”
About the Author
Bob Crossen
Bob Crossen is the editorial director for the Endeavor Business Media Water Group, which publishes WaterWorld, Wastewater Digest and Stormwater Solutions. Crossen graduated from Illinois State University in Dec. 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in German and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He worked for Campbell Publications, a weekly newspaper company in rural Illinois outside St. Louis for four years as a reporter and regional editor.