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Water renewal and environmental resources report expansion, reuse and resource‑recovery gains; ask for three positions and pipelining equipment
Summary
City staff reported the wastewater (water renewal) expansion is ahead of schedule and on budget, described reuse that returns about 15% of irrigation water from the treatment plant, and proposed three positions plus equipment purchases to bring pipelining and instrumentation work in house to reduce outsourcing and improve maintenance.
Andy Zimmerman (water renewal superintendent) and Jeff Barnes presented accomplishments at the water renewal facility and environmental resources program, described a multi‑year expansion completed on time and under budget and outlined measures to turn residuals and biogas into revenue.
Barnes and staff said the plant recovers biogas to power boilers, recycles about 1.7 billion gallons annually for irrigation (described in the presentation as roughly 15% of the city’s irrigation supply) and recycled about 10,000 tons of biosolids this year through an external composting partner. Staff said the facility is the largest recycling operation in the Northwest by some measures and that an upgraded headworks replacement and a number of capital projects were completed ahead of schedule.
The water renewal proposal requests three new positions for FY26: a pipelining construction crew supervisor (to stand up an in‑house CIPP program), an instrumentation technician for plant analyzers and meters, and a plant operations position to oversee new equipment and safety. Staff said bringing pipelining in house could reduce unit costs by roughly 60% compared with outsourcing and enable 3–5 miles of lining per year once the program is running. A one‑time equipment purchase of about $1.5 million was discussed as the capital cost to start an in‑house pipelining program; staff said FY26 staffing costs for water renewal were estimated at roughly $359,000 including retention measures to reduce turnover losses currently estimated at about $650,000 annually.
Barnes and other speakers credited environmental resources staff and the project delivery team with savings realized by bringing program management in house and noted a program to use plant resources for energy resilience. Staff also said they are working to make lift stations, wells and public works facilities more resilient to power outages and are exploring gas‑to‑pipeline projects to generate revenue. Councilors asked whether federal grant timing could affect capital projects; staff said the enterprise operating budget does not rely on the federal grants for core operations but that grant timing could affect specific capital projects and that staff expected grant decisions in July for some federal awards.
No formal vote or appropriation occurred at the presentation; councilors asked for follow‑up details during the FY26 budget review process.
