Adding Value Through Connections and Partnerships
In addition to providing the essential public service of wastewater management, LOTT plays an active role in efforts to reach broader community goals such as improving local water quality, developing affordable housing and planning for sea level rise. Our Clean Water connections also include valued educational and recreational amenities, school district partnerships, participation in regional planning initiatives and peer-to-peer sharing within the clean water industry.
Deschutes Estuary Restoration
Water Quality & Habitat Improvement
Sea Level Rise
Climate Action
Septic Conversion Support
Low Income Housing Support
Public Health Emergency Support
Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project
The Budd Inlet Dissolved Oxygen Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) analysis by the Washington State Department of Ecology found that Capitol Lake is the largest cause of 62% of the oxygen depletion in Budd Inlet, indicating that removal of the 5th Avenue dam that forms the lake and restoration of the historic estuary is necessary to significantly improve marine water quality. LOTT joined together with the cities of Olympia and Tumwater, Washington State, the Squaxin Island Tribe, Thurston County and the Port of Olympia to provide long-term funding to advance funds for restoration design and contract.
Deschutes Estuary Restoration
Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project
The Budd Inlet Dissolved Oxygen Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) analysis by the Washington State Department of Ecology found that Capitol Lake is the largest cause of 62% of the oxygen depletion in Budd Inlet, indicating that removal of the 5th Avenue dam that forms the lake and restoration of the historic estuary is necessary to significantly improve marine water quality. LOTT joined together with the cities of Olympia and Tumwater, Washington State, the Squaxin Island Tribe, Thurston County and the Port of Olympia to provide long-term funding to advance funds for restoration design and contract.
Water Quality and Habitat Improvement
Water Quality and Habitat Improvement
LOTT works with community partners like the Squaxin Island Tribe and Capitol Land Trust to identify and support projects that contribute to water quality and habitat improvement. These projects have environmental benefits, including protecting the quality of water in Budd Inlet, where LOTT discharges water treated at the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant.
Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise
LOTT, the City of Olympia and the Port of Olympia formed the Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative to implement the response plan developed in 2019. Working together ensures a coordinated strategy for protecting downtown Olympia, the Port peninsula and the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant from the impacts of sea level rise.
Climate Action
Climate Action
LOTT helps support the regional goals of the Thurston County Climate Mitigation Collaborative by conducting annual emissions inventories, sharing data and working to reduce our carbon footprint. LOTT is currently developing a Climate Action Assessment to identify opportunities to further reduce emissions over time.
Septic Conversion Support
Septic Conversion Support
LOTT offers partial rebates of the connection fee to property owners that convert from onsite septic systems to the public sewer system. This helps reduce barriers to septic conversion, reducing the number of septic systems in our urban areas to protect the water quality of local groundwater, lakes, streams and inlets.
Low-Income Housing Support
Low Income Housing Support
LOTT offers partial rebates of the connection fee for new housing units that qualify as low income or permanent supportive housing. This helps our community meet regional goals for affordable housing and helps address non-point pollution that can impact public and environmental health.
Public Health Emergency Support
Public Health Emergency Support
LOTT has helped to fund temporary health and hygiene facilities, such as portable toilet trailers, to improve sanitary conditions and management of human waste associated with homelessness. This helps to protect public health and the environment, as runoff in areas of unmanaged waste can carry bacteria and nutrients to nearby surface waters.
School District Partnerships
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education in Action
LOTT is uniquely positioned to advance STEM education and has formal partnerships with the three school districts in its service area – North Thurston, Olympia and Tumwater – to include field trips to the WET Science Center in their science curriculums. One grade level from each district visits the WET Science Center each year. In this way, students enjoy field trips that support the Next Generation Science Standards and district-specific learning goals, while also learning about their local wastewater utility. This partnership helps LOTT to educate future ratepayers, school districts to meet their learning requirements and students to have a memorable, interactive learning experience.
Community Amenities
LOTT builds facilities that provide multiple community benefits, combining utility infrastructure with opportunities for education, recreation and public art.
Industry Ties
Strong Connections to the Clean Water Professional Community
Treatment performance at the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant is among the best in the country, making staff experience and knowledge highly sought after, especially with regard to nutrient removal processes. LOTT provides tours to visitors from throughout the state, region, country and even outside the U.S. to share this rare and valuable knowledge. LOTT is involved in many professional organizations, with staff serving in positions of leadership on committees focused on wastewater treatment, biosolids, pretreatment and more. Staff routinely share their technical expertise through professional conference presentations, panels and written papers in industry publications and serve in an advisory capacity for state-level planning initiatives, such as development of the Washington State Reclaimed Water Rule and the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit.