BEACH WARNING: Stay out of the water at Fauntleroy’s Cove Park, after pump-station overflow

| Environment | Fauntleroy | West Seattle news

(Added: WSB photo, Cove Park entrance)

The King County Wastewater Treatment District says its pump station next to Cove Park, north of the Fauntleroy ferry dock, had an overflow on Sunday, so warning signs are posted now to tell people to stay out of the water. Here’s what we received from KCWTD:

The King County Wastewater Treatment Division responded to an overflow at the Barton Street Pump Station in West Seattle on Sunday, restoring the pump station to normal operations within 3 minutes [of arrival].

At about 12:50 p.m., the pump station located in the 9000 block of Fauntleroy Way Southwest, just north of the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal, overflowed after equipment inside the facility experienced an electrical issue. A wastewater
operator reset the pumps and restored the pump station.

King County notified the Washington State Department of Ecology and Public Health – Seattle & King County on Sunday.

Because combined flow of stormwater and sewer was released into Puget Sound through an emergency outfall, King County is working with Public Health to monitor water quality in the area. King County posted closure signage at Cove
Park on Monday. The beach at Cove Park is expected to be closed until water quality testing indicates it is safe. The public is urged to avoid contact with the water until the signage is removed.

The announcement didn’t mention the volume of storm/sewer overflow that was released – nor is that mentioned on the KCWTD incident webpage – so we have a followup inquiry out about that.

UPDATE: KCWTD spokesperson Akiko Oda tells WSB that they estimate 3,500 gallons went into Puget Sound.

Seriously January 6, 2025 (7:24 pm)

Geezz! I am grateful that department of ecology got brought into it (given that the city of Seattle is dragging their feet in this category in multiple locations….why? ) I’m grateful for.ECY and EPA oversight of what is happening around here. This has huge ramifications.

TP January 7, 2025 (4:32 pm)

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I grew up when the raw sewage went directly into the Sound at the ferry dock.
We waded through toilet paper to launch our dingy, so these rare overflows are fairly insignificant to the overall health of the sound.
That was when salmon and orca stocks were healthy.
The feds fine us for these events, which is one reason we had to spend big money on the infrastructure.

Eric 43 January 7, 2025 (7:58 am)

Wow this is happening too much lately I remember 5 years ago they had one in the sound over by West point The 1995 pump failed at the pump house and caused a bunch of sewage pump out into the sound I am a plumber and this sounds a lot like another case of our failing infrastructure again and everything need to be replaced/updated some of the equipment is from the mid-90s and can’t handle housing increasing from over the years

Jay January 7, 2025 (1:42 pm)

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The pipe breaks, overflows, and other leakages are getting more and more frequent. I’m sure it’s happening everywhere, but it really sucks that we can’t have decent wastewater infrastructure at least along the waterfront where it has such a massive impact on ecology and recreation. Why isn’t there redundant capacity built into the pumping system along with a backup generator that powers on when the station loses power? This is one of those things that just doesn’t happen in developed countries and here we are in one of the wealthiest counties in the world dumping raw sewage into the Puget Sound 5-10 times a year.

Wakeflood January 7, 2025 (12:51 pm)

That entire infrastructure underwent a complete upgrade about 5-8 yrs ago with the intention of this type of overflow incident NOT happening in the foreseeable future. They replaced and upgraded the cisterns and the pump infrastructure at the Fauntleroy and upgraded the pumps at Lohman Beach too, I think? Did they not right size it for the need? Was it a mechanical issue? Was it human error?