The first facility in the state to use Class A reclaimed water for golf course irrigation recently received a coveted state award for the fifteenth consecutive year.

The Department of Ecology notified the Holmes Harbor Sewer District that it received the 2020 Wastewater Treatment Plant Outstanding Performance Award.

“The Holmes Harbor Sewer District Water Reclamation Facility has an exceptional record as one of the top municipal wastewater treatment plants in Washington based on effluent limits, submittals and overall plant compliance,” the award notification states.

The facility stores treated water during the fall and winter to irrigate a 60-acre golf course during the spring and summer months.

The district’s reclaimed water permit explained that Holmes Harbor Golf and Yacht Club is a planned development containing about 700 single-family building lots adjacent to golf club fairways. The lots have inadequate percolation for on-site septic tanks, so the state originally approved a sewer plan in 1982 that would send the treated wastewater into Mutiny Bay. The plan was abandoned due to local opposition.

Instead, the district formed a utility local improvement district to finance the construction of the water reclamation facility. The treatment process removes waste activated sludge, which is routed to an aerobic digester for partial digestion, according to the Department of Ecology. The district uses trucks to periodically transport the digested sludge to the Island County septage treatment facility for further treatment and land application.