While on a walk from Lowman Beach into Lincoln Park on Sunday, we stopped for a few photos of the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project, planning to check for an update this week. One arrived tonight, even before we could ask. The million-gallon tank at the heart of the facility has already functioned successfully, as the King County Wastewater Treatment Division told the Morgan Community Association last month, so now the project is down to the final loose ends:
King County’s contractor is nearly finished with landscaping on the County’s facility building site, including a green roof on the facility building and a rain garden north of the public staircase. Grading is also underway in Lowman Beach Park in preparation for landscaping installation.
When complete, the green roof on the facility building will absorb rainwater and improve the building’s energy efficiency. Excess water from the green roof and other parts of the facility will be directed to the rain garden, reducing runoff to nearby storm drains.
Schedule update
Landscaping and restoration activities on site are expected to be complete by the end of the month. Once restoration is complete, the project artist, Robert Horner, will install the remaining project art.
The contractor will wait to plant grass in Lowman Beach Park until the weather is warmer, likely during the month of March. Fencing will remain in place around the park until grass is established. The County anticipates the public staircase to be open to the public by early April.
To celebrate completion of the project, the County will host a ribbon cutting event and facility tours this spring. Keep an eye out for an invite in the mail!
The county also says it’s changing its hotline hours for the project “now that major construction is complete.” They’ll answer 9 am-5 pm Mondays-Fridays and will take messages the rest of the time, 206-205-9186. It’s now been three and a half years since major work began at the Murray CSO site, with demolition of the residential buildings that used to be there.
P.S. During heavy rain, check here to see if overflows are happening anywhere around the area.
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