Durham celebrates 30

The Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility first received flow on July 7, 1976. This 30th anniversary is a time to reflect on the progress, challenges and changes since then. Completion of a 20 MGD advanced wastewater treatment plant and major interceptors culminated the first phase of Unified Sewerage Agency’s $70 million construction program to provide regional wastewater collection and treatment for a rapidly growing community.

A crazy-quilt pattern of sewage collection and treatment was created in the 1960s as Washington County added 6,000 people each year. Many developments provided collection and disposal via septic tanks, but by 1966 there were 46 treatment plants in the Tualatin River basin operated by nine cities, a neighboring county, and 26 independent districts. Most of these systems discharged to small tributaries that had the low summer flows typical in western Oregon. By 1967, our urban creeks were so polluted that the Oregon State Sanitary Authority banned new treatment plants until a master plan could be developed, and in 1968 new sewer connections were prohibited which was tantamount to a ban on new construction.

A 1969 plan proposed a regional agency to finance, construct and operate the proposed facilities. In 1970, the Unified Sewerage Agency of Washington County was established to end the fragmented approach to sewerage problems in the County. The voters passed a $36 Million bond issue, the largest ever attempted by a local government in Oregon, to eliminate all treatment plants on creeks and to construct or expand six major treatment plants. The first and largest of the new facilities was the Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The 20 MGD plant was designed to serve the Fanno Creek basin population of 170,000, and was expandable to 60 MGD. From the beginning, the Durham advanced wastewater treatment plant was a standout using innovative technology and design. One of a select group of plants nationwide to use a multiple hearth furnace for solids disposal, the facility equipment was brightly painted in fashionable (at the time!) colors. Extra effort made the plant compatible with its growing residential area adjacent to Durham Elementary and Tigard High Schools. Landscaping and berms screened areas of the plant and created a pleasant park-like setting for neighbors. The free-form fountain at the corner of 85th Avenue and Durham Road demonstrated the high quality of effluent the new facility returned to the environment.

Ongoing modifications and expansions since the mid-1980s evolved into today’s highly automated facility controlled by computerized Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA).

Among the Durham Facility’s many awards:
• 1987 – Governor’s Energy Award
• 1991, 1999 – Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association (PNCWA) Safety Award for Zero Lost Time Accidents
• 1992 – City of Tigard Community Design Award
• 2002 – U. S. patent for innovative and cost-effective phosphorus removal process
• 2004 – PNCWA Lower Columbia Section Plant of the Year Award
• 2005 – U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1st Place Clean Water Act Recognition Award (Operations and Maintenance, large facilities with advanced treatment)
• 2006 PNCWA Oregon Outstanding Reuse Facility Award
• Six time winner of the Association of Metropolitan Sewage Agencies (AMSA) Gold Award for 100% permit compliance, and five time winner of AMSA Silver Award since 1995.

Congratulations to the staff at Durham and Clean Water Services on a very successful thirty years. The routine achievement of a high level of treatment is a direct result of their efforts to design, operate and maintain one of the premiere treatment facilities in the world.