WEST PASCO, Wash. – The City of Pasco is nearing the end of their second phase of enhancements for West Pasco’s water treatment plant.
The project, which consists of four phases, aims to enhance water intake and distribution to up to 18 million gallons, about tripling the plant’s original capacity.
This phase involves installing a range of new equipment to better accommodate the city’s increasing water needs. Phase one of the project introduced redundant strainers, membrane racks, and clarifiers to the plant.
Brandon Lane, an engineer with the Pasco Public Works Department, says even more upgrades are being made in phase two.
“Phase two adds solids handling on the back end of the facility. It also adds more intake pumps to be able to bring more water in from the river, and then also added a new booster pump station to be able to distribute that water through the city and to the new reservoir,” said Lane.
Lane shared that the $12.5 million phase is primarily financed by city funds, including the American Rescue Plan Act.
“We still had some leftover (ARPA) funds that we utilized at the beginning portions of the project for that,” said Lane. “DWSRF, which is the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund through the Department of Health… we got a $12 million loan through them for this project and then as well as local funds.”
Lane hopes that in the coming months, everything will be up and running, following tracing tests from the Department of Health. He says by June or July, they hope to be processing and distributing 12 million gallons a day.
