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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Sept. 2, 1998
98-156
Contacts: Sandy Howard Rudnick, Ecology, (360) 407-6239; pager (360)
786-3136
Gary Fraser, State Department of Health, (360) 236-3073
Dr. Karen Steingart, Southwest Washington Health District (360) 695-9215
OLYMPIA -- A toxic discharge of an unknown source that happened sometime between late yesterday afternoon and early this morning has disabled the Woodland sewer-treatment system, allowing an estimated 175,000 gallons of inadequately treated sewage to escape into the North Fork of the Lewis River.
Until the wastewater-treatment system is fully operational, the public should avoid drinking or otherwise coming in contact with water in the Lewis River between Woodland and the river's confluence with the Columbia River.
"The inadequately treated waste water has high levels of fecal coliform bacteria that are unhealthy for humans to contact," said Bill White of the state Department of Health. "We're advising people to avoid recreation in the river until testing shows that the water is safe. This spill also highlights the need to avoid drinking improperly treated surface water. People should not drink water directly from the river unless it has been properly treated. Any river water should be filtered and disinfected prior to consumption."
The state Department of Ecology (Ecology) was contacted about the incident earlier today. When the plant's operator arrived at work today, he found the system to be "dead." A yellowish substance was coming in, and raw sewage was going out of the system. A toxic release is suspected of killing the bacteria that the treatment facility uses to process its sewage.
At about 1:30 p.m. today, the treatment plant was using heavy doses of chlorine to kill bacteria in the effluent and heavily aerating to recover, but the plant is still not fully operational.
"We're waiting for the pollution to wash away, and it is hard to say how long that will take because this stretch of the river had tidal fluctuations," said Ecology water-quality specialist Dave Knight. "We're sampling and looking for the source of the release. If we pinpoint the source, criminal charges could be filed for recovery."
The sewage was discharged through an outfall at mid-river. The effects of the release on salmon, steelhead and aquatic life in the river are unknown at this time.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
