Provide Your Input on the 2023 Wastewater Comprehensive Plan 

Background and System Overview 

The City of Port Angeles owns, operates and maintains wastewater collection and conveyance infrastructure that provides sewer service to the City, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and the Clallam County Western and Eastern Urban Growth Areas. Urban Growth Areas are independent areas established by Clallam County with the goal of containing future growth for the next 20 years. The City's wastewater collection and treatment system includes approximately 119 miles of sewer pipelines, 17 sewer pump stations, and the Port Angeles Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

What is the Wastewater Comprehensive Plan?

The City of Port Angeles Wastewater Comprehensive Plan addresses improvements required for both the City’s wastewater collection system and Wastewater Treatment Plan to increase its reliability, efficiency and to provide additional collection system capacity to address hydraulic deficiencies. 

As the population grows and the service area continues to expand into the Urban Growth Areas, the flow and loads to the Wastewater Treatment Plant are expected to increase accordingly. The Wastewater Comprehensive Plan functions as a tool that the City can use to evaluate the existing sewer system and meet the needs of existing customers, as well as plan for future collection and treatment requirements.

Why is the Wastewater Comprehensive Plan being updated?

The existing Wastewater Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the City in 2006, has undergone several amendments, including an update in 2012 that was not formally adopted. Since the 2012 Wastewater Comprehensive Plan update, the Wastewater Treatment Plant has been modified to include a 5-million-gallon storage tank for temporary storage of peak flows of combined sewage during rain events, a refurbished deep water marine outfall providing improved dispersion of Wastewater Treatment Plan effluent, and improvements to the trickling filters and headworks.

The new draft formally updates the 2006 Wastewater Comprehensive Plan. This document considers projections for 10-year and 20-year periods out to 2040, and impacts the direction of future wastewater utility operation, maintenance, the City's Capital Improvement Plan, and the level of service provided by the utility.