By Michael Gregg

How often do you take the time to think about what happens after you flush the toilet?

Wastewater management is a city service that doesn’t spend much time in the spotlight. When you do hear about sewage, it’s often because there has been a spill or some other incident.

Recently the issues with our sewer have received community attention, notably the collapse on Water Street and the problems with the Gains Street lift station in 2022. However, these incidents paint a very misleading picture of our city’s waste management.

I was originally interested in our wastewater system because I was intrigued by the possibility of promoting and implementing a urine recycling system in Port Townsend. Urine contains 80% of the nitrogen and 55% of phosphorus found in wastewater, making it a perfect substitute for synthetic fertilizer. By recycling urine, you are utilizing an abundant resource and returning the nutrients to the earth. Brattleboro, Vermont, has been recycling an entire community’s urine since 2013, saving more than 2 million gallons of water.

I wanted to understand the methods that our community implements to prevent pollution and a Dead Zone. Dead zones are caused by excess nitrogen entering a large body of water, like the strait, and causing a huge algae bloom. The algae grow at such a rate that they pull large amounts of oxygen out of the water. When the oxygen levels dip, sea organisms die en masse. A healthy ecosystem is now toxic. According to the Department of Ecology, oxygen levels in the Puget Sound are already lower than they should be.

I reached out to our local treatment plan to learn more and was graciously offered a tour by the operations manager, Bliss Morris.

I met Bliss at the treatment plant on Kuhn Street. First Bliss took me up the stairs of one of the large buildings on the premises and began to open panels on the ground to reveal the enormous flow of water under our feet; here, 800,000 gallons of wastewater flow per day. He showed me the bar screen where trash is separated from the sewage to get it ready for treatment. After the sewage is free from inorganic material it flows (via gravity) into a sludge trough. Bliss explained to me how he regulates the number of “bugs” in the sludge. The microorganisms actually carry out an extremely complex and important process. The nitrogen, when left to sit, turns into ammonia. One type of bug turns the ammonia into nitrates and nitrites by adding oxygen. Next, the aerobic bugs ingest some of the nitrogen and pull the oxygen molecules off the rest. Then the nitrogen gas is released harmlessly into the atmosphere.

Currently, the Washington Department of Ecology, which regulates wastewater treatment plants, is lowering its nitrogen requirements as part of The Clean Water Act. Not to worry, our local treatment plant is already considerably below the limit. As the city population grows and nitrogen requirements get stricter, the troughs will have to be moved so they can be expanded, giving the aerobic bugs more time to release the nitrogen.

The sludge then travels into clarifiers where the solids settle to the bottom and remarkably clear water flows off the top. Bliss showed me how water is chlorinated, de-chlorinated, and sent off into the strait. To many, it may seem concerning to hear that ourwastewater ends up in the ocean, but when it leaves the treatment plant the water has been cleared of pathogens and is so clean it could be mistaken for drinking water.

The solids are then “wasted.” They are pumped into a belt press and sent to the compost facility to be sold as fertilizer. The solids are not just fecal matter: they are actually large amounts of the older microorganisms, which have consumed nitrogen. Bliss and the crew monitor how many they “waste” every day. In this way they are utilizing the nutrients from all aspects of wastewater, not just the fecal matter.

Our wastewater workers are phenomenal at what they do. Walking into the office at the plant the award wall was prominent and impressive. Bliss excitedly told me about their plaque awarded by the Department of Ecology praising twenty-five years of 100% compliance, no spills, meeting every test requirement, and the whole shebang. They are currently the only plant in the state to be awarded this honor.

The issue the system is currently facing is caused by gaseous hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that naturally occurs in wastewater and “eats” concrete. This erosion collapsed the pipe under Washington St. earlier this year. Luckily, the city just redid its sewage plan this summer and will be adding lining to failing concrete structures. Then our sewage system can go back to what it does best: “Supporting Our Community by Protecting Our Environment.”