MURRAY CSO PROJECT: Landscaping close to complete


(WSB photos from Sunday)

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.

12 Replies to "MURRAY CSO PROJECT: Landscaping close to complete"

  • JanS February 13, 2017 (11:56 pm)

    despite the wait, and despite some of the neighbor’s opinions, this looks like it will be a lovely park/facility for the public, as well as serving a great purpose.

  • Les February 14, 2017 (5:49 am)

    Across the street they have a telephone pole placed in the middle of the  narrow sidewalk. Poor design, ADA ?

    • chemist February 14, 2017 (10:43 am)

      I noticed that too.  You couldn’t have planned “in the middle of the West sidewalk” better.

  • A-Red February 14, 2017 (8:19 am)

    They should plant more trees for us to pee in since they didn’t bother designing a public restroom into the new CSO…

  • jissy February 14, 2017 (8:50 am)

    A-red…. There wasn’t a public restroom in this area to begin with, why would they “bother” to put one in now? 

    • KBear February 14, 2017 (9:50 am)

      Because there should be more public restrooms.

    • A-Red February 14, 2017 (10:55 am)

      Because as someone who picnics at Lowman regularly with my family, I’ve observed people peeing in the bushes almost every single time I’ve gone there. That must be frustrating for the neighbors. Of course I wouldn’t do that myself. I just make the 1.6 mile round trip walk to the public restrooms at Colman Pool.

      Besides, isn’t a sewage treatment facility just about the best place to have a restroom? 

      • WSB February 14, 2017 (11:09 am)

        Many parks don’t have restrooms, and Parks often has cited the cost. If you want one at Lowman, you can certainly contact Parks and find out what the process would be to request one. I honestly don’t know why, for example, there’s a permanent portable at Me-Kwa-Mooks, but not at some other parks such as Lowman.

        One datapoint: The CSO control facility is not a sewage-treatment facility. The fancy exterior conceals a million-gallon storage tank, meant to hold combined-sewer (rainwater plus the other stuff) overflow during major storms, if it gets to the point where the underground pump station across the street at Lowman is pushed past its limit. The pump station isn’t a treatment facility either – it basically propels the flow along (from both the Murray basin and the Barton basin, which goes to the pump station north of the ferry dock and then northward to Murray), and it all eventually goes to West Point (Magnolia) for treatment. – TR

        • A-Red February 14, 2017 (1:28 pm)

          Yes, I did suggest a restroom at the design review phase but they cited upkeep as the reason to exclude. Because I see people peeing all over the place every single time I go to Lowman, I figured there’s a need.

          Heck, I’ve certainly needed one in the past, and the 1.6 mile round trip walk is a bit much when your kid just wants to play on the swings.

  • Mary February 14, 2017 (9:36 am)

    It would be a good idea to have a porty pot put in Lowman.  The closest bathroom is at the Coleman pool in the summer months.  In the winter months one has to walk around the beach to the south end restrooms.

  • wetone February 14, 2017 (7:58 pm)

    What a great name “Murray ” for a sewer overflow tank project. Fits perrrrfectly for a person that has let Seattle area property’s , parks , green spaces and waters be polluted with human waste, garbage and drugs…….. I get a good chuckle every time I walk by.

  • Tim February 14, 2017 (8:05 pm)

    One of the power poles is waiting for SCL to remove it. This was a temporary pole for the projects power needs.

    The other one in the sidewalk has a sidewalk designed around the pole and meets ADA.

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