Seattle Tries To Cope With Sewage Overflow Upgrading System To State Standards Would Cost $600 Million

Raw sewage and storm runoff are overwhelming Seattle’s old, leaky sewer lines with enough storm water and sewage overflow to fill the Kingdome more than 36 times.

Bringing the sewerage system up to state standards would cost $600 million for a series of projects completed over a period of more than 50 years. The effort started in 1986 and plans call for work to continue through 2040, said Laura Wharton, a senior water quality planner for the county.

The undertaking would add $1 to $2 to the average monthly sewage bill for the duration of the program.

The county’s latest plan calls for meeting state standards of one overflow per year per overflow location. But officials are studying whether current sewage discharge is harmful enough to justify the cost of meeting even that drawn-out schedule. That assessment is to be completed early next year.

“We’re looking to the water quality assessment to tell us, ‘Is this OK?”’ Wharton said.

She said state Ecology Department officials want faster progress but have agreed to go along with the county schedule until the water quality study is completed.

In its report to the department, the county said 2.2 billion gallons of sewage was discharged into Seattle-area waters in the year ending May 30. Combined storm runoff and sewage overflowed 364 times in 25 different spots.

One option being considered by the county is to ask the state to weaken its overflow standards, but Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Phillips says that would be the wrong approach.

“I’ve been saying quite clearly that was wrongheaded,” said Phillips, who chairs a joint city-county Regional Water Quality Committee. “People living in this area want to keep sewage out of our major water bodies.”

Cost shouldn’t be the issue, Phillips said.

“Clean water is part of the regional ethic around here,” he said.

A county-financed survey seemed to support Phillips’ contention that the public would support the expense of updating the system. It showed few were aware of the overflow problem but that most would be willing to pay higher sewage bills to fix it.

Seventy-six percent of those surveyed said they would pay an extra $1.50 per month to keep raw sewage out of area waters. Another 18 percent said it would not be worth it “if it could be shown that releasing some diluted raw sewage into Puget Sound, rivers and lakes does not create any real health hazards.”

The remainder were undecided or declined to answer.

The overflow problem varies from year to year, depending on the amount of rain. Since 1989, overflows have ranged from less than a half-billion gallons to 2.5 billion gallons a year.