Capitol Lake Pump Station to undergo rehabilitation work

The Capitol Lake Pump Station is going to benefit from renewed investment through a LOTT Clean Water Alliance rehabilitation plan targeting surface corrosion and delaminated wet well coatings.  

The LOTT Board of Directors authorized a project award to Rognlin’s Inc. of Aberdeen for the improvements at a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The decision paves the way for the wastewater treatment facility to move into its next major rehabilitation cycle. 

The station, which is located on Deschutes Parkway near Marathon Park, pumps almost 3.5 million gallons of wastewater each day from Tumwater and southwest Olympia into a downtown Olympia interceptor.  

According to LOTT, the station last underwent a significant upgrade in 1999 and has crossed into a state where its coatings no longer perform as needed for substrate protection. 

Engineering Director Kip Summers briefed the board on the condition of the wastewater facility’s interior before the vote. 

 “Some of the things we were seeing in there was the degraded electrical system, the coatings that were peeling and bubbling,” he said. 

He also noted interior equipment needing replacement, including “some valve replacement and replacing safety equipment on the inside, some handrails, some ladders and some railing up on the deck.” 

In the planning stage, LOTT commissioned consultant Brown and Caldwell to prepare detailed design work from February 2024 through September 2025. The work identified specifications for coating removal, surface preparation, resin application and safety upgrades inside the wet wells and dry wells. 

LOTT then published bid advertisements on Sept. 29 and Oct. 6. Summers said the agency opened bids on Oct. 28 and received a lone submission from Rognlin’s Inc. 

Staff reviewed the $1,314,306 submission, which includes Washington state sales tax, and found the bid amount lower than the engineer’s estimate range of $1,473,300 to $1,882,550. 

Summers also walked the board through the contractor responsibility review. 

LOTT examined Rognlin’s safety history, litigation record, law compliance, experience with similar work and qualifications of its assigned personnel. He said the contractor’s recent tank-coating work on LOTT’s Centrate Building Rehabilitation project mirrored the material and labor steps required inside the Capitol Lake wet well. 

He added that Rognlin’s is also working at LOTT’s Martin Way facility and has completed prior wastewater infrastructure upgrades for the agency. 

Engineering staff therefore acted with the recommendation after evaluating the contractor’s background and its familiarity with the wet well interior coating systems inside tank chambers. 

The construction period is scheduled for December 2025 through October 2026. LOTT budgeted the project under its 2025-26 Capital Improvement Plan with funding already in place.