The Redmond Wetlands Complex is moving full steam ahead as Redmond continues the process of building a new wastewater treatment center, and eventually for Terrebonne, on a roughly 1,200-acre plot of BLM land northwest of town.

The new wastewater treatment facility, which received land use approval from Deschutes County in June, will be located at 5801 NW Way. It will treat wastewater from the city, meaning that water from toilets, sinks, showers and more in Redmond will be sent into a series of ponds and wetlands. The $83 million project was inspired by a similar complex in Prineville and is expected, in the long run, to be a significantly cheaper and greener alternative to conventional wastewater treatment plants like the one currently used in Redmond.

Ryan Kirchner, the city’s wastewater division manager, said he is confident that the project has been given the green light by both the community and relevant governmental bodies. The city expects to finish the process of acquiring land use and building permits from both Deschutes County and the Bureau of Land Management by next spring.

Crews need to begin work on the project soon, because Redmond is quickly outgrowing its current wastewater plant, Kirchner said.

“Our plant was designed to treat 2.8 million gallons a day and currently we are at 2.5 million gallons a day,” Kirchner said. “The fun math on that is that a typical person uses, in Redmond, around 80 gallons per day.”

The new wetlands facility will have almost double the capacity of the current plant, and be able to treat 4.67 million gallons a day.

The project is primarily funded by a $74 million loan to the city from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, in addition to $6 million in fees levied on developers. Grants will also bring in funding, in addition to county dollars and money from the newly-formed Terrebonne Sanitary District, Kirchner said.

One of the more expensive late additions to the project is an expansion of the city’s wastewater interceptor, which is the pipe that will deliver the city’s wastewater to the site of the new wetlands project. City officials estimate the larger interceptor will cost around $13 million.

The project was recently awarded $1.25 million form a federal appropriations bill to help expand the pipe thanks in part to Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer R-Happy Valley, who represents Oregon’s 5th district which includes Redmond.

The new facility will also accommodate Terrebonne which recently entered into an intergovernmental agreement between Deschutes County, the Terrebonne Sanitary District, and the City of Redmond, to connect the two cities with the wetland complex.

Kirchner said one appeal of a wetlands complex is that it can easily be expanded to account for future growth by adding additional lagoons. The city’s current facility is hemmed in on only 30 acres of land and would quickly run out of room. The wetlands project could easily be modified to handle wastewater for a city of 100,000 people.

“We have plenty of room,” said Kirchner. “When we expand again it is going to be at extremely low cost … it will stabilize our community’s rates.”

Kirchner said the facility will also eliminate expensive chemicals and processes that will save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and will also require fewer staff. He thinks the lagoons will also serve as a community area where students can learn about the environment and where community members can use trails and view sweeping vistas of the Cascades. The area may prove popular with migrating birds and will serve as a wildlife sanctuary, Kirchner said.

“We need — for public safety, for environmental safety — to have a treatment plant,” Kirchner said. “But when you can actually take those same dollars and create a spot that has public access … the community actually can see where their dollars are going, but then also that they can benefit from where those dollars are being spent.”

Keith Witcosky, Redmond’s city manager, said the city continues working with elected officials to acquire appropriated funds to help offset some of the costs associated with the wetlands. He said as far as he knows the public is largely behind this project, and that moving the wastewater treatment facility to its new location is necessary given the city’s growth.

“Back in the day, it made sense to put the wastewater plant in the city limits in an area that at the time was pretty remote still. Now there are housing units all up and down the canyon, and on any given day depending on which way the wind is blowing, you don’t want a wastewater plant inside the city limits,” Witcosky said. “And to be able to do it in a way that is much more environmentally friendly and isn’t going to generate a smell like the current one does. Because it is natural versus mechanical.”