Seattle steps up efforts to reduce sewer overflows to Puget Sound

The City of Seattle and King County have agreed to increase their efforts to protect Puget Sound from wastewater overflows during severe rainstorms, according to compliance orders issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA issued the orders to address violations of the two governments’ federal Clean Water Act wastewater discharge permits.

“We know that sewer overflows regularly deliver harmful pollution to Puget Sound,” said Michelle Pirzadeh, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator in Seattle. “What we are requiring of the city and county is clear: They must take steps to reduce the volume and frequency of overflows. We must make sure our treatment plants are doing their best to reduce the amount of untreated wastewater entering Puget Sound waters.”

Seattle and King County have combined sewer systems, which carry wastewater and storm water to a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a nearby water body. During heavy rainstorms, these systems can exceed their capacity and overflow. The extra water gets piped or pumped, with little or no treatment, directly into Puget Sound-area waters.

To read the rest of this story from the EPA, click here.