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January 24, 2002

Yelm honored for water re-use

By JOURNAL STAFF

YELM -- The city of Yelm has been awarded the Environmental Excellence Award by the state Department of Ecology for successfully implementing a 100 percent water reclamation program.

Yelm reuses the reclaimed wastewater to irrigate landscaping in parks, fire hydrant supply and to augment stream flow.

Shelly Badger, Yelm city administrator, said the system produces the cleanest reclaimed and reusable water possible. Previously, the city of 3,420 residents had a standard secondary treatment plant installed in the early 1990s.

Because the city lies in the environmentally-sensitive Nisqually watershed, the city promised the state it would pursue reclamation after the necessary laws were passed in Olympia. The reclamation facility opened in the summer of 1999 at a cost of $9.6 million.

Consulting engineers Skillings-Connolly of Lacey helped design and implement the project, which can accommodate up to 12,000 residents.

Linda Hoffman, deputy director of Ecology, presented the award, the state's highest environmental honor, last night to Yelm Mayor Adam Rivas.




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