Sources of Water Pollution
In an interview with KING-5 television reporter John R. Langeler (), Darrell Rodgers, of King County's Waste Water Program stated that the primary source of pollution in Puget Sound was septic systems. That comment is wrong and could lead to unnecessary fees on private citizens.
1. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's). The City of Seattle and King County have been cited by the EPA (ECHO, Enforcement and Compliance History Online) for dumping of raw sewage into local waterways.* Washington State Department of Ecology reports 10 municipalities dumping outfall into Puget Sound and 22 outfalls in the Spokane area in 2015. The total amount that year reached nearly 1Billion gallons of untreated sewer overflow.
Civil Enforcement Case Number: 10-2010-0154
Court Docket Number: 2:13-cv-00677-JCC
DOJ Docket Number: 90-5-1-1-10030
2. Stormwater runoff from urban areas, in particular, is a primary agent of chemical, physical and biological degradation in PugetSound. Impervious surfaces such as pavement and compacted ground prevent infiltration, which means that most precipitation in urban areas is transported as surface runoff. This runoff accumulates various pollutants as it flows through the urban environment, including heavy metals, petroleum products, pesticides, fertilizers and bacteria.
Puget Sound Action Agenda
Volume 2: Technical Report, 2012-13
3. "Beneath Seattle's older homes and apartment buildings, side sewers are a festering problem." With every toilet flush, fresh sewage ejected onto the hillside. "In Seattle it's ultimately the owners' responsibility to maintain these 'side sewers'". What Trouble Lurks Beneath,
Seattle Times, 2/28/2016
Sanjay Bhatt ()
4. Boats dumping raw sewage.
5. Homeless Encampments without proper bathroom facilities or waste treatment.
6. Recreational Vehicle waste tank dumping into storm drains or other areas without benefit of treatment
7. Industry, agriculture, wildlife, water foul, …..
* Between 2006 and 2010, King County discharged approximately 900 million gallons of raw sewage to waters of the United States on an annual basis through unauthorized discharges involving combined sewer overflows (CSOs), in violation of CWA Section 301. During this time period, the County also violated its NPDES permit effluent limitations, including total suspended solids, fecal coliform, pH, and settleable solids, at one of its wastewater treatment plants, in violation of CWA Section 402. Furthermore, between 2006 and 2009, the County allowed wastewater to bypass secondary treatment at one of its wastewater treatment plants, in violation of its NPDES permit terms and CWA Section 402.
Seattle
Between 2007 and 2010, the City of Seattle discharged approximately 200 million gallons of raw sewage to waters of the United States on an annual basis through unauthorized discharges involving combined sewer overflows (CSOs), including dry weather overflows, and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), in violation of CWA Section 301. During this time period, the City also improperly operated and maintained its combined sanitary sewer (CSS), resulting in unauthorized discharges of raw sewage to public and private properties through overflow events, including basement backups.
King County
The Consent Decree provides the County with the opportunity to propose the integration of water quality improvement projects with its Long Term Control Plan through an Integrated Planning Proposal that the County would need to submit to EPA for review and approval by June 30, 2018. The Consent Decree also allows the County to substitute green infrastructure projects for gray infrastructure projects at four of its approved CSO control projects.
Citizens Opposed to OSS Management Washington
COOMWA.org 253-569-9833