(Outfalls in our area – blue = ‘controlled,’ pink = ‘uncontrolled’)
The city has yet to finalize a plan for keeping its combined-sewer overflows out of local waterways – but once it decides on an option, West Seattle will be affected, one way or another, as this “community guide” shows – with options including at least half a million gallons of overflow storage to be built somewhere in eastern West Seattle. As part of the current environmental review of the options, the city has a “scoping” open house tomorrow to which you’re invited. It’s been advertised here and elsewhere as “The Plan to Protect Seattle’s Waterways“; it’s a chance to review the potential alternatives, and ask questions/offer comments in person. It’s downtown, 4:30 pm-6:30 pm Monday (June 3rd) in the Bertha Knight Landes Room on the main floor of City Hall downtown. If you can’t go, you can comment by e-mail, as long as your comment’s in by June 20th – e-mail betty.meyer@seattle.gov. (Or – here’s a survey.)

P.S. Just in case you wondered, two things:

#1 – This is separate from King County’s combined-sewer-overflow-reducing plans, which in our area include the planned storage tank across from Lowman Beach Park and “green stormwater infrastructure” in Westwood and Sunrise Heights. The county’s plan involves reducing overflow at two of its pump stations on the southern West Seattle shore; the city’s plan involves reducing what gets to its more-numerous outfalls both on Puget Sound and on other waterways including Longfellow Creek and the Duwamish River.

#2 – If this sounds a bit like déja vu – there was a previous round of “scoping” in 2011 (as noted here). But since then, the city negotiated an agreement with higher authorities regarding past pollution, and the results of that changed the potential plan a bit, as explained in the “community guide.”