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Department of Ecology News Release - July 9, 2008
08-188
BELLEVUE – The Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined the King County Wastewater Treatment Division $30,000 for a 10-day sewage spill in May that temporarily polluted the lower reach of Ravenna Creek near Union Bay in Seattle.
The spill – discovered on May 23 – began on May 13 when King County crews diverted a main sewer line to perform maintenance. Believing they had shifted the sewage flow to another wastewater line, the workers did not realize they had hooked into a City of Seattle stormwater line.
The complex system of sewage and stormwater pipes had been changed by a 2004 project, but the changes did not appear in the maps and manuals used by the county’s maintenance staff.
Approximately 6.4 million gallons of sewage flowed into a restored section of Ravenna Creek on University of Washington property south of NE 45th St. City staff noticed unusually high flows in a Seattle stormwater line during a break in a long stretch of rainy weather. County crews stopped the mistaken sewage flow immediately.
“We appreciate King County’s fast response to stop the sewage spill and to monitor and clean up the creek,” said Kelly Susewind, who manages Ecology water quality program. “The county could have prevented this release by taking better care to update the information its crews rely on in the field.”
Wastewater Treatment Division Director Christie True said, “We take full responsibility for the spill. It was unacceptable and we feel terrible for the inconvenience to community members. We committed to a cleanup that has resulted in a cleaner, healthier creek than before the spill, and we will take long-term action to prevent another incident like this in the future.”
The spill into the slow-flowing creek left an accumulation of sewage solids and floating debris in the creek channel and along its banks. Monitoring showed high bacteria levels for several weeks in the creek, but not in the main channel of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, into which the stream empties.
King County posted warning signs along affected waters in cooperation with state and local health departments, and mounted a cleanup effort to remove sewage solids and other debris. Monitoring will continue at some locations throughout the summer.
The county also is upgrading its procedures to ensure that a cross-connection with a storm drain will not occur again. Sewage from northeast Seattle flows to the West Point treatment plant.
King County may appeal the penalty to Ecology or to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board within 30 days.
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Media Contacts:
Larry Altose, Ecology media relations, 425-649-7009; pager 206-663-1785
Annie Kolb-Nelson, King County Wastewater Treatment Division Media Relations, 206-263-6157; pager 206-469-2514
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
