| Mar. 24, 2003
2003 Archived News News Release King County wastewater treatment workers responded quickly to an alarm about 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, that a pump at the Richmond Beach Pump Station in Shoreline had shut down, causing a small wastewater overflow onto county property. "Our Richmond Beach Pump Station has been nearly trouble-free in the past 10 years," said Don Theiler, wastewater treatment manager. "So overflows there are unexpected and unacceptable." Wastewater treatment workers made temporary repairs after a similar overflow March 4. They are continuing to investigate causes of the pump shutdowns and developing permanent changes in equipment and operations to prevent future overflows. For 19 minutes March 19, wastewater flowed from a wet well in the pump station into the facility employee parking lot. It then entered a storm drain that flows to a small wetland on the northwest corner of county property. Most station equipment worked properly, capturing typical sewage debris and containing the overflow on site. Only about 34,000 gallons of liquid wastewater entered the storm drain. The fenced wetland has no public access. King County staff reported the overflow to appropriate state and local regulatory agencies, took water quality samples at several locations, and cleaned up the facility and wetland. The water analysis found normal bacteria counts in Puget Sound. King County's Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 18 cities, 15 sewer districts and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties..
Public meeting, soil and groundwater tests planned for Hidden Lake Pump Station, sewer improvements |
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