Senior Water Quality Planner - Pollution Prevention Specialist

Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist

The King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) is seeking a Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist (Water Quality Planner/Project Manager III) to support the division's lines of business as a lead subject matter expert (SME) in matters of pollution prevention and source control practices and regulations, and technical support for issues in toxic contaminants and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) that enter the County's wastewater system. The Senior Planner role is a key team member in the division's regulatory compliance work involving the Clean Water Act-NPDES and Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) and sediment management programs. The position also will help coordinate source control related work across the division's other planning, operations, resource recovery and environmental monitoring programs. The Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist will help to influence the policies and strategic planning of meaningful and innovative programs to protect public health, improve Puget Sound water quality, and achieve the division's fiscal and environmental stewardship commitments. The work will leverage the County's resources and expertise involving legacy contaminants from historic operations (e.g., PCBs); and technology and management approaches for CECs such as PFAS, personal care products, and microplastics. Your expertise will be critical for communicating and educating diverse audiences on complex contaminant topics, collaborating with technical teams, engaging supervisors and division leadership, and building strong partnerships for the division's work in wastewater, hazardous waste, recycled water, biosolids, and stormwater operations at WTD facilities. If you're driven for experience in environmental regulatory compliance, strategic policy, problem-solving, and program development, this position offers exciting opportunities to grow your leadership skills and have a lasting regional impact.

The Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist will be a technical lead for teams and projects aimed at enhancing comprehensive approaches to contaminant source control activities and investments. The primary objective is to support teams and organize, develop, manage, and track actions to reduce the impacts from excess household and commercial/industrial products and chemical sources to domestic and industrial wastewater; stormwater (from WTD infrastructure) and CSO discharges; and our recovered products. You will serve in a pivotal position providing expertise and guidance in contaminant source identification, pollution reduction Best Management Practices, internal and external communications and education, and regulatory compliance issues. As a senior planner, you will help define and track program effectiveness, coordinate with activities across other divisions and County departments, recommend internal policies and compliance documentation, and develop annual and long-range program updates related to WTD's NPDES permits. Senior planners also administer regulatory submittals, databases and records requests, and assist internal budget and financial processes, and provide technical program information for King County Council and committee processes (e.g., MWPAAC and RWQC). The environmental regulatory and permitting programs of most importance to this work that the position may coordinate with include:

• West Point Wastewater Treatment Plant NPDES permit (renewed 4/29/24) and federal Consent Decree for the CSO system, and NPDES permits for South Plant, Brightwater, Carnation, and Vashon Island wastewater treatment plants;
• King County's Source Control Implementation Plan (SCIP) for the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site and related CSO basin prioritization and source tracing studies;
• King County Industrial Waste (KCIW) pretreatment program;
• WTD's resource recovery products and programs (e.g., biosolids, recycled water);
• WTD's coverage for facilities under Washington's NPDES stormwater permits.

The Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist also will help to achieve objectives outlined in King County's Clean Water Healthy Habitat Strategic Plan, PFAS Strategic Plan, 6-PPDQ Strategic Plan, and Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan. This position follows a hybrid work model, blending remote and in-person work.

About The Team: WTD's Environmental and Community Services Section is a diverse team of professionals responsible for supporting the division's comprehensive planning and capital wastewater infrastructure delivery programs totaling over $600 million per year, and operations of three large regional wastewater treatment plants (and two small community systems) serving a population of 2 million located within numerous member sewer agencies. The West Point Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest treatment facility in Washington serving the Seattle urban core and surrounding areas, and includes a large CSO system consisting of 38 permitted County CSO outfalls and five intermittent wet-weather treatment stations, and is managed cooperatively with the Seattle Public Utilities CSO service area with 120 CSO outfalls. The Environmental and Community Services Section plays a critical role in guiding strategic and regulatory decision-making for major investments in the region's wastewater system with staff in Environmental Services, Community Services, Regulatory Compliance & Land Acquisition Services, King County Industrial Waste Program; and Education and Engagement units. The work we do has a lasting impact on public health, water quality, and the environment in the Puget Sound region, both now and for generations to come. Commitment to Equity, Racial and Social Justice: King County, named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a diverse and vibrant community that represents cultures from around the world. Our True North is to create a welcoming community where everyone can thrive. We prioritize equity, racial and social justice, making it a foundational and daily expectation for all employees. In this role, you will actively apply these principles in all aspects of your work. Learn more about our commitment at

Apply now for a rewarding career at the Wastewater Treatment Division of King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks (DNRP). Join our talented workforce in protecting and restoring the natural environment and promoting more resilient, sustainable, and equitable communities. Enjoy training, comprehensive benefits, and growth opportunities.

Job Duties

Under general supervision of the Environmental and Community Services section manager, provide professional-level evaluation and management of activities as a subject matter expert for the wastewater treatment Division (WTD) for the following core duties:

• Coordinate pollution prevention program actions for individual NPDES permits for the wastewater treatment plants and the CSO system;
• Serve as point of contact for WTD's division-wide contaminant source control activities, and monitor the state of science, technology, and regulations around contaminants for legacy pollutants and CECs;
• Coordinate actions under King County's SCIP for the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site including preparation of annual reports and 5-year updates;
• Assist with obligations for WTD facilities under the County's Phase 1 Municipal Stormwater NPDES Permit supporting regulatory compliance for our permitted sites, including Green Stormwater Infrastructure;
• Coordinate various types of pollution prevention planning processes; problem definition, scoping, and budgeting; team building; document and deliverable approaches and content; prioritization and scheduling of tasks: and supporting decision-making processes;
• Communicate and coordinate teamwork, objectives and expected outcomes, instructions and guidance, data collection and analysis, information dissemination, and education and outreach for technical contaminant studies;
• Incorporate principles of sustainability and equity, as outlined in the County's Equity, and Social Justice Strategic Plan;
• Manage work activities to meet or exceed all established standards for regulatory compliance and service to ratepayers;
• Navigate achieving results from people who do not report to you while maintaining consistently good working relationships with colleagues.

Along with technical expertise, the candidate will have strong project management skills and a passion for communicating technically complex material to a range of audiences.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

Qualifications You Must Bring:

• Minimum 5-years experience in environmental pollution prevention, source control, or investigations with toxic contaminants in wastewater or stormwater OR 5 years of equivalent knowledge and similar progressive environmental experience such as inspection, regulatory compliance, waste management
• Demonstrated experience in the collection and interpretation of environmental information (e.g., regulatory, scientific, planning, or engineering) to support administrative records, reports, and meetings
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for conveying technical, regulatory, or complex information for diverse audiences
• Experience identifying approaches and methods to resolve problems or issues particularly where there may be ambiguity and lack of established procedures
• Experience coordinating or leading teams or projects

Competencies You Bring:

• Communicates Effectively - Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Collaborates - Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives. Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas. Partners with others to get work done. Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments. Gains trust and support of others.
• Plans and Aligns - Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.
• Resourcefulness - Securing and deploying resources effectively and efficiently.
• Manages Complexity - Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a field of environmental regulatory compliance (e.g., Clean Water Act-NPDES