Hastings, Tina

Tina Hastings is a Principal Project Manager and civil engineer with Jacobs in Seattle, Washington. She has over 20 years' experience in the planning, design, construction, start up and commissioning of wastewater pump stations, pipelines, and treatment facilities. She has held leadership roles in the design delivery of well over $3 billion in public infrastructure.

Titles from this speaker

Vision to Reality: Building Community Through a Wet Weather Treatment Facility

Abstract

BACKGROUND King County is executing a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) aimed at reducing CSOs into local water bodies and protecting public health and the environment. The Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment System (GWWTS) is one of 14 Consent Decree projects in the LTCP. The remote GWWTS improves the resiliency of the regional King County wastewater system by capturing and treating 95 percent of the CSOs at two CSO outfalls into the Lower Duwamish Waterway. The GWWTS will operate an average of approximately 20 times per year, processing about 265 megaliters (70 million gallons) of wastewater annually. Construction began in late 2017 and achieved substantial completion in December 2022. The GWWTS is located in a dense urban neighborhood (Figure 1) surrounded by residential housing, commercial businesses, and light and heavy industrial facilities. Georgetown is a close-knit community that is diverse and home to many artists. King County's goal was to design a station that not only improves water quality in the Lower Duwamish waterway but also builds community by addressing the County's equity and social justice goals. King County developed a proactive community engagement plan to design a facility that reflected neighborhood values. OBJECTIVES The objectives of involving the community in the design of the GWWTS were: (1) identify community goals, and issues, (2) align the project vision and goals to the needs and goals of the community, and (3) implement design features that address those needs and goals. METHODOLOGY Two plans were developed at the beginning of the project to take into account community needs, goals, and issues.

*GWWTS Design Phase Public Involvement Plan (PIP) — The PIP was developed to identify and provide a profile of community needs, goals, and issues. The issues of the community were identified through a variety of methods including feedback at community briefings and drop-in sessions, direct verbal and written input, and Design Advisory Group (DAG) comments.

*Equity and social justice action plan (ESJ plan) — The plan sought to have the project team improve the determinants of equity in the Georgetown neighborhood through project commitments that relate directly to known community values, regulatory requirements and sustainability actions. Community values identified were documented through conversations and interviews with community members, community survey results, meetings with a community DAG and the Georgetown Neighborhood Plan. Implementation of these plans extensively involved the Georgetown community in the design process through:

*DAG meetings

*Community briefings

*Community surveys

*Community meetings

*Dozens of listserv communications, project updates, and newsletters

*Hundreds of phone calls, emails, and one-on-one conversations Through these many forms of communications, the project team learned that the top community issues were air and water quality improvements, pedestrian safety, and open or green space improvements. Community members highlighted the need for the site to serve as a 'gateway' to Georgetown. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The community engagement resulted in a number of design elements, measures during construction, and collaborations to benefit the community. These included:

*The GWWTS design fits in with the industrial character of the corner while highlighting architecturally innovative design.

*Water conservation through a green roof on the operations and education center is shown (Figure 2). Site wide water cisterns (Figure 3) collect rainwater which is then used to irrigate the landscaping.

*Facility landscaping includes trees specifically chosen for their air quality benefits.

*King County's collaboration with the community to improve air and water quality extended beyond the GWWTS. A 'green wall' of planters extends down a nearby city block. By partnering with a local community, a local grocery store has rain gardens and cisterns with interpretive signage (Figure 4).

*During construction, King County managed a 24-hour project hotline with a commitment to respond within one day to all issues and concerns.

*The community expressed a desire to understand when the station was operational and improving water quality. A piece of art called 'Theater of a Storm' developed by a lighting designer illuminates successive treatment processes as the station begins receiving wet weather flow and flow progresses through the station. The multi-colored LED lighting of facilities is shown in Figure 5. When the station is not operating, LED lighting is deployed to create a visually appealing station at night.

*Public art commissioned as part of the project connects the neighborhood to its own weather and experience of rain. The artwork, called a rain monument, is shown in Figure 5. During dry weather, rain falls down the inside of the cylindrical monument with the intensity of the previous storm. During a rain event, there is no rain in the monument. Public outreach to include the community in the design of the station resulted in many positive developments beyond improving the water quality in the Lower Duwamish Waterway. Through careful planning, listening to the community, and incorporating community identified design elements, the GWWTS is a gateway and community asset benefiting both the environment and the people who live, work, and play in Georgetown.

This paper will present the approach King County implemented and results to realize the vision of incorporating community needs and goals in the design of a remote wet weather treatment station located in a heavily populated, urban environment. Community outreach and workshops during design of the station brought a sense of ownership by the community, and resulted in a facility that represents neighborhood aesthetics and values and is a source of community pride.

SpeakerHastings, Tina

Presentation time

10:30:00

11:00:00

Session time

10:30:00

12:00:00

SessionStakeholder Engagement Strategies to Promote Green Infrastructure and Environmental Justice

Session number529

Session locationRoom 356

TopicIntermediate Level, Public Communication and Outreach, Resilience, Safety, and Disaster Planning, Stormwater and Green Infrastructure, Water Equity and ESG

Author(s)

Hastings, Tina, Matson, Elizabeth, Cramer, Kristine, Sowell, Heidi, Siczka, John, Dunne, Ryan, Rennhack, Claire, Fristensky, Jason, Johnson, Mark, Sandino, Julian

Author(s)T. Hastings1, E.K. Matson2, K. Cramer2, H. Sowell2, J. Siczka3, R. Dunne1, C. Rennhack4, J. Fristensky5, M. Johnson6, J. Sandino7

Author affiliation(s)1Jacobs, WA, 2King County, WA, 3Jacobs, WI, 4The Miller Hull Partnership, WA, 5Berger Partnership, WA, 6Signal Architecture + Research, WA, 7Jacobs, KS

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2024

DOI10.2175/193864718825159625

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count12

Description: Where Will It Go? Successfully Siting and Permitting the Remote Georgetown Wet...

Where Will It Go? Successfully Siting and Permitting the Remote Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station in a Dense Urban Area

Abstract

Management of wet-weather flows is challenging utilities across the globe. Environmental, regulatory, and public pressures are requiring utilities to embark on programs to plan for and design facilities to convey, store, and treat the large volume of wet-weather flows to reduce the frequency of untreated discharges to receiving waterbodies. Many times, remote storage or treatment facilities located upstream of the wastewater treatment plant are the most cost-effective and feasible options because they reduce the need to increase capacity of conveyance facilities and the wastewater treatment plant to handle the additional flow. Locating these remote facilities is challenging for several reasons, the primary reason being that these remote facilities tend to be most cost-effective when located near the combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfalls where wet-weather flows need to be intercepted to reduce the frequency of untreated discharges. However, in many cases, these areas are typically fully developed, highly dense urban areas with limited availability of real estate that is expensive and can include significant demolition and business displacement. These areas also include constructability risks because of the close proximity to receiving waterbodies, including poor soils, liquefaction risk, and high groundwater. Permitting of these facilities is also challenging due to the existing land uses, setback limitations, height restrictions, shoreline implications, and noise regulations. In addition to the challenges associated with siting and permitting of these facilities, which require coordination with third parties for negotiations and approvals, this project required a compressed schedule to meet regulatory requirements associated with the Consent Decree deadlines. Siting and permitting remote facilities are seldom discussed but equally as important as the treatment technologies and design of the facilities themselves. This paper presents the collaborative approach implemented by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division to site and permit the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station (GWWTS) in a dense urban area. The GWWTS collectively includes the wet-weather treatment station, influent and effluent conveyance pipelines, and an outfall structure in the Lower Duwamish Waterway

SpeakerHastings, Tina

Presentation time

09:30:00

09:50:00

Session time

08:30:00

10:30:00

SessionThe Rain is Coming: Are you Ready for Wet Weather Treatment?

Session number305

TopicFacility Operations and Maintenance, Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design, Resilience, Disaster Planning and Recovery, Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Wet Weather

Author(s)

T. HastingsC. RobinsonW. SroufeG. LongC. Murillo-OaksP. BurkeD. Pecha

Author(s)T. Hastings1; C. Robinson2; W. Sroufe3; G. Long4; C. Murillo-Oaks5; P. Burke6; D. Pecha7;

Author affiliation(s)Jacobs, WA1; King County Department of Natural Resources Wastewater Treatment Division2; King County Department of Natural Resources Wastewater Treatment Division3; Compass Resource Management4; HDR5; Jacobs6; HDR7; Jacobs, MI8; Jacobs, WI9; HDR10

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2020

DOI10.2175/193864718825157887

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count21