Originally published by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division 

To those who pass by, Skills Inc. may seem like just another grey building tucked behind Auburn’s mile-long dealership row. Inside, the company is quietly making its mark contributing to western Washington’s cluster of innovation in commercial aerospace.

The work of manufacturing and finishing wings, landing gear, side panels, and other aerospace parts involves the use of heavy metals and caustic chemicals. While Skills Inc.’s finished products end up all over the world, the company has a responsibility locally to keep Puget Sound and its surrounding waters clean. King County Wastewater Treatment’s Industrial Waste Program makes sure that happens.

“A lot of wastewater comes from local industries,” says Dana Heinz, a King County industrial waste compliance investigator. “And we closely work with King County’s many industrial users like Skills Inc. to make sure that harmful pollutants to our treatment system are not discharged to the sanitary sewer.” Read more.