To view the list of outstanding treatment plants, click: 2024 Outstanding Treatment Plant Awards
To view the Department of Ecology News Release, click: https://ecology.wa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/news/2025/aug-20-wastewater-treatment-plants-awarded-for-top-performance
Wastewater treatment plants awarded for top performance
OLYMPIA – Washington has more than 300 wastewater treatment plants, and each one needs certified operators to keep these facilities running smoothly — and to ensure they protect water quality and public health.
The Washington Department of Ecology is recognizing 121 wastewater facilities and their operators with the agency’s annual Outstanding Performance Awards.
These operators achieved excellent compliance with their routine water quality monitoring and reporting requirements, and in meeting water quality permit limits.
The award is recognition of the hard day-to-day work that wastewater operators perform.
What do wastewater treatment plant operators do?
Operators work to treat the wastewater that leaves industries, businesses, and homes. This work helps prevent different types of pollution from reaching local waterways.
Jon Kenning, who leads Ecology’s Water Quality program, highlighted the vital services that wastewater treatment plant operators provide for communities.
“Wastewater infrastructure is something many of us don’t think about, while operators are thinking about it every day,” Kenning said. “Wastewater treatment operators help ensure clean water for our communities and the environment. Their work often goes unseen, but it benefits everyone in our state.”
These facility operators make sure wastewater is clean enough to be released to water bodies such as local rivers or Puget Sound. Ecology uses wastewater permits to ensure that wastewater treatment facilities are properly designed, operated, and maintained to meet end-of-pipe discharge limits. These limits protect communities from bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants that can harm human health and the environment.
While every facility is location specific and structurally different, they all depend on trained and certified operators to keep things running safely and smoothly.
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How outstanding facilities are chosen
Ecology selects wastewater treatment plants for the Outstanding Performance Award based on meeting specific permit conditions, including:
- Regularly meeting numeric effluent limits
- Monitoring water quality, as required
- Submitting reports on time
Award recipients receive a plaque and certificate to show off their excellence and continued commitment to keeping Washington's lakes, rivers, and streams clean.
