Any update on sewage spill? or link to story described in your post (below)? Thanks.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002EmC

KING 5 5:09 PM this night. Should be on the KING5 site later. Stated that beach signs were posted due to raw sewage spill into the sound yesterday. Malfunctioning pump/valve. Not y2k of course. No other details given. Of course this happens all the time (not).

-- pliney the younger (pliney@puget.sound), January 05, 2000

-- d (d@d.com), January 06, 2000

Answers

Thursday, January 6, 2000, 03:04 a.m. Pacific

Raw sewage spills after pump fails at West Point treatment plant

by Brier Dudley Seattle Times staff reporter A broken pump caused a 20-million-gallon sewage spill Monday at the West Point treatment plant in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.

The beach at Discovery Park was closed because of high levels of coliform found after the mix of storm water and untreated sewage was discharged between 3:30 and 5 a.m.

It appears no fish were killed, but the state is investigating whether there was environmental damage in addition to the violation of water quality standards.

Don Theiler, King County waste-water-treatment manager, said the system was burdened at the time by heavy storm-water flows. One pump was being maintained; another broke; and the two remaining pumps couldn't handle the load.

At the time, the plant was taking flows of 300 million gallons a day, three times the normal level.

A mix of two parts storm water and one part sewage backed up at the plant, triggering an emergency outfall that discharged the mix into Elliott Bay about 600 feet north of the plant.

"It usually dilutes fairly quickly," Theiler said.

Nobody was disciplined for what appears to be a mechanical failure. But Theiler may revise the maintenance policy so pumps aren't removed from service during the rainy season, when flows are heavy.

The county could be fined up to $20,000 by the state, which is awaiting the county's incident report, said John Glynn, water-quality supervisor at the Department of Ecology's regional office in Bellevue.

Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Phillips, who lives near West Point, had few details but said he planned to call for a briefing during today's meeting of the council's Natural Resources Committee.

The last major spill at West Point occurred in October 1998, when it lost power and dumped marginally treated waste water into the bay for much of a day. Under state orders, the county then installed a backup power source.

But smaller overflows during heavy rains are common elsewhere in the regional sewage system, which includes a number of emergency discharge vents into Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

To reduce those overflows, and increase capacity to handle future growth, the council on Nov. 29 agreed to spend $1.2 billion on upgrades, including a new treatment plant in the north end, joining West Point and a plant in Renton.

-- Martin Thompson (Martin@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-15.html

In 1997, more than 5,199 beach closings or advisories were issued due largely to sewage spills and overflows, and only nine states currently have regular monitoring and public notification programs and adequate public notification.

http://www.ckf.org/wavelength/issue9401/georgia.html

This isn't just true on our side of the border. In Puget Sound, combined sewage overflows from ten US cities pour untreated sewage into sensitive streambanks and shoreline areas. In over 60% of Puget Sound's estuaries, water quality threatens the health of fish, shellfish or wildlife, primarily due to high fecal coliform counts and toxic metals and chemicals in estuary sediments. As in BC, beaches are closed to shellfish harvesting due to contamination from municipal sewage discharges and leaking septic systems, and a growing number of red tide closures affect the region.

Table 3: Major Pollution Sources Causing Ocean, Bay, and Great Lakes Beach Closings and Advisories in 1998

Pollution Source Number of Closings/Advisories Sewage spills and overflows 2,433 + 7(e) + 12(p)

Includes sewage overflows from combined and sanitary sewers, malfunctioning sewage treatment plants and pump stations, sewage spills, and sewer-line breaks. Usually due to stormwater or sewer overflows. (e) means extended closings of 612 weeks. (p) means permanent closings of more than 12 weeks.

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 06, 2000.

Thanks guys!

-- d (d@d.com), January 06, 2000.

So, if Y2K is not a sewage problem, we should see 6-7 reports of beach/waters closing due to sewage leaks a day in the US. If it is, we should see significantly more.

I only count two on the TB2000 board since Y2K.

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 06, 2000.

John take your dryer apart!

-- Swampthing (in@the.swamp), January 06, 2000.

Thank God we have John!!! Another expert on everything!!

-- Rescue Us (fromouridioticselves@ohplease.john), January 06, 2000.

Hey John,

If a sewage leak doesn't make a stink on this board, does it still smell???

-- Riddle Me This (joker@thepit.sigh), January 06, 2000.

Hi John, Why are you here if you don't like it?

-- (dorado@doco.com), January 06, 2000.

Dorado,

I don't recall John saying he didn't like it here (please feel free to correct me). Aren't you approving of dissenting views in a forum? Different, respectfully presented views make a topic interesting.

I am appalled at the amount of untreated waste which enters areas where we keep and grow potential food. How sad to think that it is so prevelant. Today I feel as though we (in the Western Hemisphere) are living in a giant Love Canal. It's disgusting.

-- Simpleminded (nope@wont.now), January 06, 2000.

Spent a week in Cincinnati over the holidays. Metropolitan Sewer District people were checking every house to see whether runoff from the roof was going into the sanitary sewers. Guy I spoke with said every downspout or drain will have to be cut off from the sanitary line. Storm water can overload the sewage treatment plant. He said almost every house they had checked so far was in violation.

In most cases all that has to be done is cut the downspout connection to an underground line and put in a splash block.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 06, 2000.