Port, city mull joint sewage treatment utility

MOSES LAKE — Officials with the Port of Moses Lake and the City of Moses Lake are looking at creating a joint sewage and water treatment utility to serve both the port and the Larson community.

The joint utility, proposed Tuesday night at a special study session of the Moses Lake City Council that was attended by commissioners and staff from the Port of Moses Lake, would tie the Port’s water treatment and the Larson treatment facilities together — expanding the capacity of both and allowing for more industrial customers in the Port.

“This is an issue we view as critical to our long-term success of attracting new businesses,” said Port Executive Director Jeffrey Bishop.

Bishop said the Larson Treatment Plant, which was built by the Air Force to serve the base and the neighborhood and is currently owned and operated by the city, is currently underutilized, processing less than half of the 750,000 gallons per day the plant is approved for.

Bishop said the port’s water treatment facility — which is located on the western side of the airfield — is only 1.25 miles from the Larson treatment facility. The two could fairly easily be connected by pipe, he said.

The Larson facility would also give the Port the ability to handle significant organizational waste, giving the Port possibilities for new industrial customers, such as agricultural firms. The Port’s water treatment facility is optimized to deal primarily with salt, the by-product of industrial cooling processes.

“Larson treats organic waste, and our plant is not designed for that,” Bishop said. “But now we could look at firms that produce organic waste. That’s nectar, stuff bugs like to eat.”

Currently, the Port stores wastewater on site and then uses it to irrigate roughly 240 acres of crops, anything from alfalfa to adzuki beans.

A Joint Municipal Utility Services Authority (JMUSA, pronounced “jamoosa”) would also allow for better regulation of water and sewage permits on site and as an integrated whole, Bishop said. A number of Port clients had separate sewage and discharge permits written by different Department of Ecology employees, resulting in state waste permits that exceed the Port’s state-permitted capacity, Bishop said.

“Companies can focus on business and not focus on water and state regulations,” Bishop said. “The utility can look at the bigger picture when writing permits.”

Whatever the timetable would be on the city and the port creating a joint utility, Bishop said it was better to do things right than do them quickly.

“Our customers are all anxious to have this done yesterday, but it will take as long as it needs to take. There are too many variables. We need to be thoughtful and inclusive, and not rush the process,” he said.

While this matter was being discussed, it does appear to have some support among Moses Lake officials.

“Development in the Port affects Moses Lake,” said City Manager John Williams. “It will benefit the community as a whole whether it’s in the city limits or not.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.