Key Legislative Leaders attend Special Groundbreaking Ceremony of Water Recycling Facility in Quincy, Washington PDF Print E-mail
QUINCY, WA — The City of Quincy, the Port of Quincy, and the Grant County Economic Development
Council held a special groundbreaking ceremony August 7th in Quincy to dedicate the site of "Phase 1" of the new Quincy water recycling facility.  Several key legislative leaders attended and/or spoke at yesterday's event including: Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, Senate Ways & Means Committee Chair Margarita Prentice, Senator Janea Holmquist, Rep. Mike Armstrong, Rep. Bill Hinkle, Rep. Cary Condotta and Rep. Judy Warnick.

As a result of the unprecedented economic growth in Quincy, the Washington State Legislature and the Governor provided $4.5 million in funding this past legislative session to begin building Phase 1 of the water recycling/reuse facility.  The facility will initially deliver reclaimed water to the Microsoft Data Center beginning in 2009. In addition, the Phase 1 portion of the water-recycling infrastructure will also help accommodate other industries in the northwest area of Quincy.

"One of the key reasons that the Port of Quincy and the City of Quincy have had the good fortune of attracting new businesses is because of the public investment in infrastructure in Quincy by our local, state and federal governments," stated Curt Morris, Chair of the Port of Quincy Commission.

This sentiment was echoed by Port of Quincy Commissioner Brian Kuest, who said: "A long-term vision and good strategic planning and investments by the Port of Quincy, the City of Quincy, Grant County, Grant County PUD, and Grant County EDC, combined with funding and support from the Washington State Legislature and Washington State Congressional Delegation, provided Quincy with the ‘necessary tools' or ‘key ingredients' to attract economic development."

Following the August 7th ceremony, the legislators and other public officials were provided a special tour of the Yahoo! Data Center, Intuit Data Center and the Port of Quincy Industrial Park #4 (where Yahoo!, the Columbia Colstor International Intermodal Facility, and the Port of Quincy's Intermodal Terminal are located).  These data centers and the Port of Quincy's Industrial Park #4 are across town from the site of the groundbreaking and will be part of Phase 2 of the water recycling/reuse facility that will extend reclaimed water capacity to the northeast part of Quincy beginning in 2010.

It is estimated that Phase 2 of the water-recycling infrastructure will cost approximately $5 million and it is hoped that the Governor and the Legislature will be able to provide funding for Phase 2 during the upcoming 2009 Legislative Session.

"We applaud the public investments in infrastructure that have occurred in Quincy and want to continue to see those investments occur, as they have greatly helped our rural economy and tax base in Quincy and in Central Washington", stated Patric Connelly, Port of Quincy Commissioner.