AWWA REUSE52089

The city of Yelm is located 65 miles south of Seattle, inthe shadow of magnificent Mount Rainier. The prairie soils in Yelm are very porous and the groundwater table is quiteshallow. Yelm draws its drinking water from this shallowaquifer. In the mid-l980s, routine testing revealed that nitratelevels were rising in the drinking water. Studies indicated thenitrates were coming from high densities of septic tank leachfields; the soil structure simply could not keep up with thedensities, and it was no longer providing adequate treatmentprior to the effluent reaching the groundwater. As an immediate fix, the City constructed a new Septic Tank Effluent Pump system and aerated lagoon treatment facility that discharged to the Nisqually River. In an effort to protect this pristine river, the City exploredways in which to stop discharging wastewater into the river. This paper describes Yelm's solution to this problem which includes a reclaimed water wetland park, a state-of-the-art treatment facility and a reclaimed water distribution system.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

01/01/2000

Number of Pages:

5

File Size:

1 file , 48 KB