New Acres Conditionally Approved for Shellfish Harvesting in Oakland Bay

Forty-three new acres have been conditionally approved for shellfish harvesting in Oakland Bay. This follows years of pollution prevention efforts and infrastructure investments that have improved monitoring and reliability at the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Washington State Department of Health approved the new acreage in the northern portions of the Bay in March. The new acreage results from years of work by the City and other agencies.

“The Squaxin Island Tribe appreciates the investments and time that the City of Shelton has put into upgrading their Fairmont wastewater treatment plant. These upgrades have reopened productive shellfish beds for the Tribe,” said the Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources. “City staff worked in close contact with the Tribe and the Washington State Department of Health to reopen these beds. We look forward to this continuing collaboration for clean water in Oakland Bay.”

The City has invested in improving our wastewater and stormwater management infrastructure. Notably, updated processes at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant have successfully improved monitoring and added equipment to ensure water quality in Oakland Bay. The plant can now better monitor wastewater, hold it when needed, and add additional treatment when necessary.

These investments allow the City to prevent untreated wastewater from flowing into Oakland Bay, and also to notify the Department of Health in time if a discharge of untreated water were to occur. The Department of Health will continue to conduct annual evaluations of the treatment plant.

Shelton’s Wastewater Treatment Plant has previously been recognized for its efforts at the state level by the Department of Ecology, which in prior years has awarded the plant with its “Wastewater Treatment Plant Outstanding Performance” award for complying with water quality rules.