Quick answer: The Lenora Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility is an $8.73 million water-quality project breaking ground in April 2026 on a 0.27-acre, city-owned lot at the corner of Lenora Street and S 1st Avenue in Lowell, immediately adjacent to Lowell Riverfront Park. It is funded primarily by Washington State Department of Ecology Water Quality Combined Financial Assistance Agreement WQC-2025-EverPW-00177 in the amount of $8,733,920 — effectively the entire project cost. The facility will treat stormwater runoff from 146 acres of Lowell drainage (subbasins LW-9, LW-10, and LW-11) before it discharges into the Marshland Canal and the Snohomish River, removing total suspended solids, dissolved copper and zinc, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and total phosphorus.
Why an $8.7M Stormwater Project Is Bigger News Than It Looks
While most of Everett’s construction conversation in April 2026 has been about a $120 million stadium and 300 new waterfront apartments, an $8.73 million project is starting this month on a half-acre lot in Lowell that will quietly do more for the Snohomish River than any other capital project the city is funding right now. It is one of those projects nobody will livestream and nobody will design-render. It is also exactly the kind of work that determines whether Everett’s waterfront stays swimmable, fishable, and credible as a sustainability story over the next decade.
Where It Is and What It Does
The site is small — 11,944 square feet, 0.27 acres — at the northeast corner of S 1st Avenue and Lenora Street, immediately adjacent to Lowell Riverfront Park, on the west side of the BNSF railroad tracks. If you have ever parked at the Lowell Riverfront Trail to walk the dog, you have driven past it without noticing.
The facility’s job is to take stormwater runoff from three drainage subbasins in Lowell — known to city staff as LW-9, LW-10, and LW-11, totaling 146.10 acres — and run it through a treatment train before it reaches the Marshland Canal system, which discharges into the Snohomish River. The first phase of the facility is a five-cell Filterra Bioscape system with two of the five cells fully functional at opening, giving the city a phased path to scale up treatment capacity as the surrounding subbasins develop further.
What Gets Removed From the Runoff
The contaminants the Lenora facility is designed to capture are the standard menu of urban stormwater pollutants:
- Total suspended solids (TSS) — particulate matter that clouds water and smothers spawning gravel.
- Total petroleum hydrocarbons — oil and fuel runoff from streets, driveways, and parking lots.
- Dissolved copper — primarily from vehicle brake pads. Copper is acutely toxic to juvenile salmon at very low concentrations.
- Dissolved zinc — from tire wear, galvanized metal, and roofing.
- Total phosphorus — the driver of summer algae blooms downstream.
The Marshland Canal discharges to the Snohomish River, which means everything the facility removes is something that does not enter the river — and does not enter Possession Sound or any of the salmon habitat between Lowell and the river mouth.
The Funding Story
The project is funded primarily by the Washington State Department of Ecology under Water Quality Combined Financial Assistance Agreement WQC-2025-EverPW-00177, in the amount of $8,733,920. That is roughly the entire project cost, which is why the City of Everett can deliver an $8.7M facility without putting it on the local utility bill.
For Everett residents already absorbing the proposed $10.74-per-month utility tax hike going through council right now, the Lenora project is the rare piece of stormwater infrastructure that does not show up on your bill at all. The state Ecology grant covers it.
Why Lowell Needed This
Lowell is one of Everett’s most environmentally complex neighborhoods. It sits on a low riverfront bench between the Snohomish River and the BNSF tracks, with three small subbasins draining toward the Marshland Canal. The geography means stormwater from streets, parking lots, and roofs throughout the neighborhood concentrates fast and hits the river hard during rain events.
The 146 acres covered by the Lenora facility include a mix of residential, commercial, and rail-adjacent uses. That mix is exactly the kind of urban runoff cocktail that does the most damage to salmon habitat, because dissolved copper from brake pads and dissolved zinc from tire wear behave like concentrated toxins for juvenile fish even at very low concentrations. Removing those before they reach the river is the difference between a healthy salmon return and a steady decline.
How It Fits Everett’s Bigger Stormwater Picture
Everett operates under a state-issued NPDES Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit. Among other things, that permit requires the city to identify high-priority drainage areas and progressively install treatment infrastructure that meets state water quality standards. The Stormwater Management Action Plan (SMAP) the city has been refining for several years identifies the Lowell subbasins as priorities precisely because they discharge directly to a salmon-bearing waterway with limited dilution. The Lenora facility is one of the more visible deliverables of that plan.
What It Means for the Lowell Riverfront Trail
The construction site is immediately adjacent to Lowell Riverfront Park, which means anyone using the Lowell Riverfront Trail this spring and summer should expect periodic construction activity, equipment staging, and possible short trail detours along the affected segment near S 1st Avenue and Lenora Street. The city’s Public Works department will post detour signage if any trail closures become necessary.
The good news for trail users: the facility is going on a small footprint at the edge of the park, not inside it. The trail itself stays intact. Once the facility opens, the only visible change at the site will be the Filterra system’s surface elements — bioretention cells, a small access path, and a city interpretive sign that the Public Works department typically installs at completed water quality projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where exactly is the Lenora Stormwater Treatment Facility?
At the northeast corner of S 1st Avenue and Lenora Street in Lowell, on a 0.27-acre city-owned lot adjacent to Lowell Riverfront Park, west of the BNSF railroad tracks.
How is it funded?
Primarily by a Washington State Department of Ecology Water Quality Combined Financial Assistance Agreement (WQC-2025-EverPW-00177) for $8,733,920 — effectively the full project cost.
Will it raise my Everett utility bill?
No. The state Ecology grant covers the project. This is structurally separate from the proposed $10.74-per-month utility tax hike currently before the City Council, which is a different revenue mechanism for general fund purposes.
What pollutants does it remove?
Total suspended solids, total petroleum hydrocarbons, dissolved copper, dissolved zinc, and total phosphorus — the contaminants most responsible for water-quality damage to juvenile salmon and downstream algae blooms.
Where does the treated water go?
The treated runoff discharges into the Marshland Canal system, which discharges into the Snohomish River.
How big is the drainage area being treated?
146.10 acres across three Lowell subbasins (LW-9, LW-10, LW-11). The treatment train uses a five-cell Filterra Bioscape system; two of the five cells will be fully functional at opening, with capacity to scale up.
Will the Lowell Riverfront Trail close?
Trail users should expect periodic construction activity and possible short detours along the segment near S 1st Avenue and Lenora Street. Public Works will post detour signage if any trail closures become necessary. The trail itself remains intact; the facility footprint is at the edge of the park, not inside it.
