Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dec. 13, 1999

99-262

Contacts: Sandy Howard, public information manager, 360-407-6239

Portable-toilet company fined for raw sewage spill at Pt. Defiance

OLYMPIA - Sending raw sewage down the wrong drain in Tacoma last summer will cost a portable-toilet company $16,000.

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) issued the fine to Port-O-Let Services, based in Woodinville, for improperly dumping about 3,600 gallons of raw sewage into manholes connected to a stormwater system that drains into Commencement Bay at Owens Beach. A flow of brown, foul-smelling sewage spewed onto the beach July 5 and 6.

Workers from Port-O-Let incorrectly assumed the manholes were connected to the city sewer system as they were disposing toilet waste generated at the Taste of Tacoma event at Point Defiance Park.

Port-O-Let should have transported the waste to the city’s central wastewater-treatment plant, said Keli McKay, a water-quality manager for Ecology. "Instead, the workers falsely presumed they could dump it into the city sewer. This is never acceptable, and the results were devastating."

In July, Tacoma issued Port-O-Let Services a civil penalty of $11,895 for the incident, citing improper discharges to the municipal sanitary sewer.

McKay said Ecology’s additional penalty is for violating the federal Clean Water Act by discharging pollution into "waters of the state."

"Port-O-Let Services is committed to environmental standards above and beyond the legal requirements associated with our business," said John Davis, president of Port-O-Let Services. "We regret that this incident occurred and would like to express our commitment to seeing that these types of problems never arise in the future."

As a precaution, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department closed Owen Beach for three days following the incident and later said that the combination of cleanup efforts and dilution in the bay helped remove any human health threat.

The company has 15 days in which to seek a reduced penalty from Ecology, or 30 days to appeal the penalty to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.