Olympia considering seeking federal grants to pay for water and wastewater projects

Olympia  is contemplating applying for federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants to fund the city's utilities projects.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers the BRIC grant program, which is intended to support states, local communities, tribes, and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects.

At the Utility Advisory Committee meeting yesterday, engineering and planning supervisor Susan Clark briefed the members on the capital facilities plan projects covering six-year projects for stormwater, wastewater and drinking water utilities.

Clark said they are also eyeing other federal and state grants, fund reserves and long-term debts for the projects.

She said they created utility projects based on hydraulic model capacities, routine maintenance, and inspections. "We conduct inspections using CCTV technology to see problems within our piping systems visually."

Some utility projects include:

Wastewater utility programs

• Cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP project to rehabilitate pipes or sections of pipes. Design in 2023 for 2024 construction
• Miller and Central project construction will be fully replaced in 2022
• Miller and Ann lift station: design in 2023 for 2025 construction. Anticipate for loan financing
• Rossmoor lift station: design in 2026 for 2027 construction
•  Old Port 2 lift station: begin design in 2028
•  Pre-design and planning for replacing the sewer on Percival Creek bridge with a new sewer under the creek
•  Pipe capacity upgrades
• Onsite sewage conversion – Central Street, Chambers Creek, South Bay Road

Stormwater Utility programs

• Aquatic habitat improvements
•  Pre-design and planning
• Water quality improvements
• Flood mitigation
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Drinking water utility programs

• Source projects – Briggs Well development (2023/2024)
• Storage projects – Boulevard Road Reservoirs (2022/2023), Elliot Reservoir (2023), Eastside Tank (2026)
• Distribution system projects
  • Fones Road main replacements (2023/2024)
  • Eastside Street/Henderson main extension (2024/2025)
  • Transmission system projects - seismic valve installation

Security projects - fire suppression system installation at Allison/Shana Park (2023); annual security and remote system program

"All three utilities implement an asset management program which looks at condition and age of our infrastructure to help make decisions," she said.