(WSB photo, Wednesday, Cove Park entrance)

Just in – the King County Wastewater Treatment Division says Fauntleroy beaches have reopened “after water quality testing over consecutive days showed safe results.” As reported here Wednesday morning, the beaches were closed because of two overflows blamed on power anomalies at the county-operated Barton Pump Station during Monday night’s thunderstorm. KCWTD says the 101,100 gallons of wastewater that overflowed was “safely routed into a pipe that empties into Puget Sound about 600 feet offshore.” It’s working to figure out how to keep this kind of problem from happening again, noting “While the pump station is equipped with an automatic backup generator, the facility did not experience a complete power outage that would have activated the backup system. Wastewater engineers are researching ways to mitigate the effects of poor power quality, including power sags, bumps or surges on pumps, which are designed to shut down when encountering inconsistent power.”