In order to stop the flow of nitrogen pollution and improve the health of Puget Sound, the Washington State Department of Ecology requires-from January 1st-sewage treatment plants-including sewage treatment plants in Edmonds and Linwood-to monitor Emissions, optimizing operations and planning infrastructure investment.

According to the Ministry of Ecology, excessive nitrogen is the main pollutant that causes low oxygen content in Puget Sound and unhealthy, and causes a series of problems for fish and other marine life. The new Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit put 58 sewage treatment plants on the path of controlling and significantly reducing nitrogen emissions for many years. Most of these facilities currently do not have proper nutrition control technology. This means that nitrogen in human waste is flowing directly into Puget Sound from homes and businesses through facilities.

Edmonds and Lynnwood have their own treatment plants, and Mountlake Terrace sends wastewater to Edmonds for treatment. At the same time, Brier's wastewater flows into the West Point Treatment Plant of the Jinxian Metro.

The license operates in a five-year cycle, and the Ministry of Ecology will update and improve the requirements in each cycle based on the situation learned from the implementation of the license and public feedback. Since the amount of nitrogen emitted from facilities varies greatly, the requirements are divided into three categories: significant (7 facilities), medium (20 facilities), and small (31 facilities).

Seven main facilities are responsible for more than 80% of the excess nitrogen entering Puget Sound. Medium-sized facilities accounted for 19%, and small-scale facilities accounted for less than 1%. Ecology formulated these categories and related requirements based on feedback from the advisory committee and two rounds of public comments held earlier this year. (Edmonds and Linwood are considered medium-scale facilities.)

The first five years of the license (2022-2026) focused on preventing the deterioration of nutrient problems, while the facility identified long-term technological upgrades and other investments to better control nutrients. The Ministry of Ecology requires facilities:

Optimizing performance during the first five years of the permit is the first step in reducing the amount of nutrients entering Puget Sound from these facilities. Ecology predicts that during this period, by optimizing existing treatment processes, many plants can reduce nitrogen by 5-7% or more. One optimization alone can prevent thousands of pounds of nitrogen from entering Puget Sound every year. Facilities are eligible for ecological grants to help cover optimization and planning costs.

Seven facilities in the main category have additional requirements. If they cannot maintain or reduce the nitrogen content through optimization, they must find a way to reduce the nitrogen content by 10% in the short term while planning long-term investment.

In terms of how to reduce the amount of nitrogen discharged into Puget Sound, the community and its facilities have many options. As part of the required planning, the Ministry of Ecology stated that it wants facilities to consider what the community can afford. Ecology predicts that nutrition control technology will be online in most facilities in the next 15-20 years. This reflects the time and financial resources required to plan and build these major infrastructure improvements.

The new license will take effect within 30 days from January 1, 2022. To view the permit and other related materials, please visit ecology.wa.gov/NutrientPermit.

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