Update: County says no power-outage-triggered overflow after all

| Environment | West Seattle news

ORIGINAL REPORT, 10:10 AM THURSDAY: As relatively brief as this morning’s Fauntleroy/Arbor Heights/vicinity power outage was, it still had environmental effects, the county just disclosed:

King County sewer utility crews quickly stopped an overflow at the Murray Pump Station that was caused by an early-morning power failure in West Seattle.

The overflow lasted about 3-5 minutes, spilling an estimated 19,000 gallons of wastewater into Puget Sound near Lowman Beach Park. Crews engaged a mobile generator currently staged at the site and quickly restored normal operation.

King County notified health and regulatory agencies about the overflow, took water quality samples, and posted signs warning people to avoid contact with the water.

King County is currently investing $26 million to upgrade Murray Pump Station as part of a long-term project to control overflows of stormwater and sewage that occur during heavy rains. Improvements include the installation of a permanent back-up electrical system to provide power during outages and other emergencies.

The aforementioned project is separate from, but being done in conjunction with, the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project million-gallon-tank construction across the street.

UPDATE, 5:27 PM FRIDAY: From King County spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson:

I just want to offer some updated information about the Murray overflow we reported yesterday. After additional investigation, our operations staff concluded that we did NOT experience an overflow from the pump station.

The operations crews first took data from a sensor that initially indicated that water level in the pump station overflowed the weir, but a sensor further down the system in an outfall pipe and visual inspections indicated that no wastewater left the pump station.

sc January 22, 2015 (12:58 pm)

So whenever power is lost there is no back up generator already in place to turn on? I assume when the power goes off at a pump station an alarm somewhere alerts King County Utilities to the problem.
If not then something needs to be done so that this does not happen again.

WSB January 22, 2015 (1:27 pm)

It’s part of the upgrade project mentioned therein. (The link to the pump station name is info about the project.) Once they’re done, there’ll be a permanent onsite generator. In the short run, I learned in connection with this that the portable generator is now “staged” at the site for rapid deployment. Used to be they’d have to call it out from somewhere. – TR

Susan Stoltzfus January 22, 2015 (2:07 pm)

City pump stations have been outfitted with e-plugs so that, during a power outage, our crews can roll up with a generator on a truck and just plug it in. Previously they had to wire the generator to the pump, usually in the middle of the night in a driving rain storm. That took a lot longer to stop the overflow than it does now.

John January 23, 2015 (7:45 am)

Susan Stoltzfus,
Why aren’t these pump stations equipped with dedicated emergency generators, like hospitals and others do?
The power gets knocked out during storms often accompanied by heavy rains which flush out to Puget Sound. With a back-up generator 19,000 gallons of wastewater would not now be the Sound.
Did this 19,000 gallon incident generate any fines?

WSB January 23, 2015 (8:04 am)

The generator is being installed as part of the pump-station upgrades that are happening in connection with the Murray CSO project across the street. We’ve mentioned it multiple times before and it’s noted on this county webpage. http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Completed/MurrayAve.aspx

John January 23, 2015 (8:38 am)

Thanks WSB,
But why is there no back-up generator now?
It has been seven years since, “2007 when new pumps and new mechanical and electrical equipment were installed.”
Even a temporary trailer mounted back-up generator could have prevented overflows.
Will the overflow generate any fines?

bolo January 23, 2015 (9:52 am)

“Even a temporary trailer mounted back-up generator could have prevented overflows.”

You should tell that to SPU. The generator they use there is not the doghouse one you pull behind your pickup truck. It’s a near semitruck size beast that can be heard for blocks around, not appropriate to keep parked there all winter.

Main problem in that area is that the sewer and stormwater runoff lines are not separated and therefore present an extra amount of water that must be considered as sewer water– required to be treated. Antique system there that runs under the streets.

John January 23, 2015 (10:44 am)

Yes bolo,
That is exactly the kind of generator I was referring to, not the dog house size at Costco.
Similar ones used on movie productions are nearly silent. Of course during a debilitating and usually loud wind and rain storm, even a loud emergency generator could be tolerated for a few hours.
If I recall, there has been one at the Fauntleroy facility before.
Our antique system of combined sewer and rain run-off is indeed the primary cause of all of these expensive bandaids. Unfortunately, it is now far too costly to segregate the ROW combined sewers that exist throughout Seattle.
New construction is now required to mitigate run-off and segregate it from sewer and waste waters. If you look closely at all new homes, you can find a small on-site detention/raingarden that only activates an overflow, rarely, into the combined sewer during extended heavy rains.