Why is the City doing this Project?

In 1991, 8 drying beds and an evaporation pond were constructed at the site.  Next, in the early 2000s, a storage building was added to protect the loader and a decant area was created to manage the Vactor waste from the sewer system.   The drying beds were expanded in 2008 by removing the center driveway and turning the 8 beds into 4 larger beds.  In 2013, a bunker was added to meet Ecology requirements for separating the finished Class A biosolids from the sludge being processed.

Ten years ago, the WWTP staff hauled one dump truck four days a week to the drying beds and now we are hauling an average of two trucks five days a week and sometimes three. Contributing factors to the increase of solids in the WWTP’s system are:

• Population of Wenatchee has increased
• Area of utility services have increased
• More solids in the system due to water conservation efforts (Low-flow Toilets)
• Future cleaning of the existing digesters will need a place for storage

What will the project include?

The project includes clearing and grading currently undeveloped land adjacent to the City’s existing sludge drying facility, construction of four new asphalt pavement sludge drying beds, concrete dividing walls, catch basins and drain piping, a new evaporation pond with membrane liner and sampling facilities, new fencing, relining of the existing evaporation pond, a new ecology block decant solids storage bin and a new pre-cast concrete vault toilet building.

What to expect?

Project will start Spring 2023.  Working hours will be Monday - Thursday, 7:00am - 5:30pm. 

 Timeline

Updated: March 2023