WASHOUGAL — The Washington State Department of Ecology awarded Washougal a low-interest $22.5 million loan for construction on the city’s new biosolids facility.
“The council and staff were very pleased to learn that we had been awarded this Clean Water loan,” Washougal City Manager David Scott said.
The funding is part of Ecology’s 2025 Water Quality Combined Funding Program, which is distributing $309 million to Washington cities and jurisdictions for 136 clean-water projects and infrastructure investments.
Washougal’s current biosolids-management strategy relies on four large sewage lagoons that encompass more than 12 acres at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
The new facility will turn solid waste generated from the city’s wastewater treatment process into land-applied, Class-B fertilizer via an aerobic digester. Once the treatment plant is running, the city will decommission its existing lagoon storage system.
Washougal plans to pay for the $34.5 million project with the loan, $11 million from its wastewater fund and $1.9 million in direct federal appropriations, Scott said.
“This loan is very significant for the funding of the project,” he said. “The very favorable terms of our loan are 1.6 percent interest for 30 years.”
Ecology said in a statement that project funding comes from a mix of state and federal dollars, including approximately $40 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Joe Biden signed into law Nov. 15, 2021.
The upgrades “are needed to increase the facility’s capacity to process wastewater and address operational issues that have impeded the plant’s ability to meet permit requirements and respond to odor nuisances,” according to a project description.
In March, the Washougal City Council approved a $26 million contract with Woodland-based Stellar J Corp. for construction, which is underway and scheduled to be completed by August 2026.
The project is undergoing an environmental justice assessment, required for grant or loan projects worth more than $12 million.
The Department of Ecology also awarded the city $278,131 for its Q Street infiltration pond retrofit project, which will redirect stormwater runoff from a 22-acre drainage basin to an underutilized infiltration pond; and a $498,445 grant for restoration efforts along Campen Creek.
