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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 1996
96-134
CONTACT:
Kathie Emmett (360) 407-6281
Mary Getchell (360) 407-6157 Pager (360) 534-8590
ECOLOGY AND CLARK COUNTY MOBILE HOME PARK AGREE ON SEWAGE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
OLYMPIA, WA -- This week the Washington State Department of Ecology, Southwest Washington Health District and Greenway Mobile Home Park north of Vancouver are working together to correct sewage problems created by the mobile home park. Sewage from the mobile home park has been surfacing onto its drainfield. Raw sewage can carry disease-causing bacteria and viruses which can potentially contaminate ground water.
"We spent last week hammering out an agreement that protects human health and the environment and is practical for the mobile home park," said Bill Backous, Ecology's water quality program section manager for the Southwest Regional Office. "The agreement will cause immediate changes to a long-standing situation. We've been concerned about the health of people living in the park and the potential for ground water contamination."
The primary component of the agreement is a schedule to get the Greenway Terrace Mobile Home Park hooked up to the Hazel Dell sewer system. Also as part of the agreement, the mobile home park will ensure that the sewer lines at the park are checked daily for surfacing sewage. The Southwest Washington Health District will inspect the system weekly and review daily logs the mobile home park will be keeping. The Greenway Terrace Mobile Home Park will provide a copy of those reports to Ecology each week. It is expected that the park will be connected to the city's sewer system by the end of this year.
"It's truly good news that we've reached an agreement. The likelihood of further environmental damage and a threat to the health of residents would have become very real in these next few months as our weather becomes wetter," said Kathie Emmett, Ecology's compliance officer on this project. "The addition of rainwater on the drainfield would have caused further ponding and surfacing of sewage."
On August 30, 1996, Ecology ordered the mobile home park to stop discharging sewage to the park's drainfield because it was failing and too small to handle the amount of waste it was receiving. For the past two years the drainfield serving the 105-unit mobile home park has failed, sending sewage up and out of the cleanouts (plastic caps connected to each mobile home) and on to the ground next to the trailers. When the amount of surfacing sewage is excessive, it tends to run off toward the mobile homes in the park.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
