business backgrounder | regulatory
Impossibly Clean
Proposed water quality standard can’t be met
with current technology.
Jason Hagey
A study by HDR Engineering, Inc. found that even the most advanced technology won’t be capable
of cleaning water to the standard called for under a proposal that state officials are considering.
Cleaning Washington’s water to the standard that some state
officials are considering is not just wildly expensive, it’s also
impossible given current technology.
Those are two of the takeaways from a report released in
December by HDR Engineering, Inc., a Bellevue firm that
performed a detailed assessment of the technologies that could
potentially be capable of meeting new effluent discharge standards
under consideration by the state Department of Ecology.
AWB, the Association of Washington Cities and the Washington
State Association of Counties commissioned the report, which is
the first detailed analysis of how businesses and municipalities
might comply with the standard.
The findings did not come as a surprise. Those who would
be most affected by the proposed standard — manufacturing
companies that discharge wastewater and municipal governments
that operate wastewater treatment facilities — have been sounding
the alarm for more than a year, telling officials that the change
could do serious harm to the state’s economy.
Still, the study’s findings prompted fresh calls for caution.
“Some cities estimate residential utility bills could increase to
as much as $200 a month under this scenario,” said Mike McCarty,
“We’d like to find a creative and balanced
solution that looks at the sources of the toxics
and how to get and keep them out of the water.”
— Mike McCarty, CEO of the Association of Washington Cities
CEO of the Association of Washington Cities. “Instead, we’d like to
find a creative and balanced solution that looks at the sources of the
toxics and how to get and keep them out of the water.”
AWB President Kris Johnson said the report provided more
evidence of the need for a balanced approach.
“Figuring out how to make Washington’s water cleaner is in the
best interest of everyone, including employers,” Johnson said. “We
need to find a realistic way to do that with existing technology so
the goal is actually met, not just written into some regulation.”
And if the cost and feasibility issues were not enough to raise
concerns, then there’s this: Attempts to meet the standards could
actually produce collateral harm to the environment, the study found.
That’s due to the increased energy use required to run treatment
facilities and the resulting increase in greenhouse gas emissions,
a s we l l a s t h e p o t e n t i a l f o r
substantial land requirements
to house treatment facilities and
the need to dispose of residual
materials from the treatment.
fish consumption
In Olympia, the debate over water
quality standards is known by the
shorthand “fish consumption.”
That’s because the number that
officials are using to measure
wa t e r q u a l i t y i s t i e d t o t h e
amount of fish — which absorb
pollutants from waterways —
they believe people can safely eat
Local governments would have to impose significant rate increases for municipal wastewater treatment
facilities due to proposed water quality standards.
48 association of washington business