KINGSTON — The view of Apple Tree Cove these days isn’t quite as picturesque as it normally is this time of year, but the barges offshore are part of a project that will provide Kingston residents with a better water treatment system next year.

Crews from General Construction working on the floating structures are installing a $3.2 million outfall pipe for the new Kingston sewer plant. Through the project, the existing pipe, which is located north of the Kingston Ferry Terminal, will be abandoned. That 12-inch outfall main that was damaged when the Washington State Ferry system dredged the area several years ago.

“It is being used, but it is not going out far enough and (it’s) creating odors,” said project manager Bob Denning of URS Construction Services.

For the new treatment plant, crews are installing an 18-inch outfall main that will extend from just off the private beaches of Apple Tree Cove some 5,360 feet into the Sound Puget.

“We don’t want to go any further into people’s property than we need to,” Denning said.

The new pipe will empty into the Puget Sound at a depth of 165 feet. The outfall pipe’s depth will eliminate odors and its new size will increase capacity.

Work in the water started about three weeks ago and barges will remain in the cove for the next six months as crews dig trenches, lay pipe and refill the trenches.

No environmental impacts to the area are expected as General Construction has received the appropriate permits and is following the necessary guidelines, Denning said.

“We’ve even moved the alignment (of the pipe) to avoid any endangerment of the eel grass,” he explained.