When Seattle Public Utilities announced in May that upgrade work was about to start on Pump Station 38 in the 1400 block of Alki Avenue SW, one key thing was missing – final permit approval. Today they’ve sent notice that the approvals are finally in and work will start “as soon as” Monday, July 18th. As reported previously (and shown in the rendering above), the overhauled pump-station site will include an art installation. The $2 million project will be built by Harbor Pacific Contractors, Inc. of Woodinville; construction is expected to last up to nine months.

4:40 PM: 78 homes are out of power north of The Junction, between (roughly) 40th and 41st SW and Charlestown and Genesee. Fire and police have been dispatched to check out what at least one caller said sounded like an “explosion.” Updates to come.

4:57 PM: One resident says his house was out for about 10 minutes but has power back. SCL’s map still shows 78 out. SFD apparently didn’t find anything at note, as its response has closed.

6:30 PM: Only one home is shown as still out. See comments below for neighborhood reports on what happened and how it was fixed.

8:31 PM: Thanks to Susan for the tip. 10 homes are without power in Upper Morgan. Susan reports, “Looks like and sounded like a transformer blew, in the alley between 38th & 39th and Morgan.”

9:13 PM: Short-lived outage, according to this update from Susan: “Wowser, they were quick. Truck got here 10 minutes ago and they are rolling out already.” The map hasn’t updated yet but Susan says the power’s back.

We’ve reported previously on the upgrades – and art – planned for Seattle Public Utilities‘ Pump Station 38, on the water side of the 1400 block of Alki Avenue SW [map]. Now, SPU has announced the work is expected to start within a few weeks, so it’s time for a reminder. The city says the flow through the station has increased in recent years, so the upgrade will “convert the current pump station from an airlift-type station to a more standard pump station … to reduce the risk of failure.” The project has been awarded to Harbor Pacific Contractors, Inc. of Woodinville, for $2,066,085, according to project manager Jonathan Brown. (That’s up from the $1.2 million estimate last year.) The work is expected to last six to nine months once it begins; the start was estimated “as early as mid-May” when a notice was sent out recently, but now, Brown tells WSB, it’s “looking more likely that it will be a late-May or early June start” as the contractor is still working on right-of-way permits. The work will require parking restrictions and Alki Trail detours for people walking/running/rolling.

The project includes art funded through the city’s half-century-old 1% For Art program, commissioned from Idaho artist Sarah Thompson Moore. We reported last year on the updated design (shown above), including a safety guardrail that the site upgrade would require, with or without art. The city says the art “seeks to create an engaging and thoughtful space that highlights the history of local Indigenous communities and their relationship to the land and waterways surrounding West Seattle.”

(Sign seen in project zone last July – photo sent by Nathan)

The Brace Point area south of Fauntleroy has underground electricity, and underground problems – with another outage just this past Monday. Finally, a major repair project that had been years in the making was supposed to start last year – Seattle City Light and its contractor even had a public pre-construction meeting in August. But then – major work never started. After questions from frustrated residents, we checked with SCL, repeatedly, and the answer was generally something about permit problems. Today, two residents reported that the contractor, Olson Brothers Excavating, had packed up their remaining equipment, with one worker telling a resident that they were pulling out and the city would have to put the project out to bid again. We asked SCL’s Jenn Strang about it – and she says yes, they’ll be looking for a new contractor, which means the work won’t resume any sooner than next year:

Over the past six months, we have been working through challenges with the Brace Point conduit repair project. In fall 2021, City Light encountered an unforeseen delay in issuing the notice to proceed (NTP) when it took longer to receive a required Department of Ecology permit than anticipated. During this time, a further complication arose with the contractor not being able to meet the Durkan administration’s policy for vaccine attestation for contractors working on City projects. As we negotiated with the contractor to ensure all requirements were met before issuing the NTP, our SDOT Utility Major Permit expired. With work delayed and the contractor’s non-compliance, we recently canceled the original contract.

We have been focused on reacquiring the SDOT permit. This process will likely take several months as we implement required design changes to comply with updated standards and coordinate review processes with relevant City departments. Once we have a permit in hand, City Light will proceed to advertise for bids, review submittals, and issue intent to award to the selected contractor.

City Light is working to expedite these steps to begin work as quickly as possible. The best-case timeline would allow issuance of an NTP as soon as early 2023 to late spring 2023. However, it is important to note that continued issues with supply chain and staffing shortages could create uncertainty with this timeline.

Even before all this, the Brace Point project was originally expected to start in 2020. At last year’s meeting with the now-former contractor, it was estimated that the work will last “two or three years” – once it begins.

It’s happening here at WSB HQ, just this past hour. We called the appropriate Seattle Public Utilities number – 206-386-1800 – and they noted ours was the fourth call they’ve received. They had no ready response but promised a call from a water-quality inspector. Discolored water is usually the result of sediment getting stirred up in the pipes – usually rust – but the cause can be anything from hydrant testing/use to a break somewhere.

12:43 PM: Thanks for all the tips! Power’s out for many – we have reports from High Point to White Center so far – South Park too. Seattle City Light maps more than 14.000 homes and businesses out in the early going.

12:54 PM: The total is holding steady at 14,000+. We were spared here at HQ in Upper Fauntleroy – just a flicker – but our server is running slow under the traffic spike; we’re also updating Twitter. Just heard on the scanner that this is believed to have been caused by a tree being cut and hitting wires in the 6700 block of 25th SW.

1:08 PM: Obviously with such a wide area out, there are businesses and schools out (please let us know, or comment below, if you have any specifics) – also traffic signals, so if you are out on the road, please treat those as all-way stops.

1:21 PM: Our standard power-outage reminder – though SCL’s map has an estimated restoration time, those times, as we’ve learned over 15+ years of covering outages (and also hearing directly from the utility), are NOT based in any specifics an generally are way off – restoration could happen a lot sooner or a lot later, so don’t base any decisionmaking on the estimate. Meantime, NO word so far of any early dismissals at affected schools.

1:36 PM: Commenter says Southwest and South Park library branches are closed because of the outage. … SCL now confirms the tree report and says crews are on their way.

1:47 PM: Other closures include Southwest Pool. … More on the cause, from SCL’s Jenn Strang: “A tree took down two feeders, which resulted in a large number of customers affected. City Light anticipates that we will be able to get the majority restored early this afternoon but there may be a smaller group of customers that will be out for a longer period of time.”

1:57 PM: South Park is back on (thanks to commenter Lesley for that news) – the SCL map shows that lowers the total of customers currently affected to about 13,000. (Added, commenter says South Park Library has reopened.)

2:06 PM: More power just restored, per texter and commenters in High Point and elsewhere. (Added) Map shows 9,000 still out. Here’s the updated SCL map:

Basically, most of the north half of the original outage zone is back on. Commenters note that’s brought some businesses and schools back on line, too.

2:20 PM: And as commenters are noting, even more are back on – now down to fewer than 400 customers still out.

3:07 PM: Texter sent this photo of the downed-tree scene:

Those who are still out are mostly in proximity to the scene.

3:14 PM: Southwest Pool has confirmed it too has reopened.

5:59 PM: SCL says everyone has their power back.

9:22 AM: Thanks for the tips. Another power outage has hit the Brace Point area, as shown in the Seattle City Light outage map screengrab above. SCL says 329 customers are out and is attributing the outage to “bird/animal.” Most past outages in the area have been blamed on the failure of underground equipment, which has long been scheduled for replacement/rehabilitation work that’s been delayed by what the utility says are permitting problems.

11:57 AM: We have an inquiry out to SCL for specifics on the cause; in the meantime, the map has revised it to “equipment failure” and downsized it to 160 customers.

2:48 PM: Still waiting for specifics from SCL. Meantime, the outage is mapped again at 329 customers.

3:42 PM: Since that last check, power’s been restored to all.

4:13 PM: SCL spokesperson Jenn Strang tells WSB, “The outage was due to a failed junction box. Due to the nature of the failure, it took some time to identify the fault. Once identified, we had to de-energize 169 additional customers to safely complete repairs. Repairs were made and power restored.”

Another West Seattle neighborhood is dealing with discolored water – this time, Pigeon Point. Thanks to Matt for the report. No water breaks in that area reported currently, so there are various possible causes – the discoloration is usually from “sediment” getting stirred up in the line, most often rust. If it happens to you, report it to the Seattle Public Utilities round-the-clock hotline at 206-386-1800.

3:14 PM: Thanks for the tips. Verizon phone customers are reporting trouble, not just here but in other states too, according to online reports. No official company statement so far. But some government agencies are starting to acknowledge it too.

3:36 PM: We inquired with Verizon media relations via email. The reply: “We are aware of an issue impacting voice calls for some Verizon customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.” (This is affecting our hotline too, by the way, so if you have a tip, text 206-293-6302, don’t try voice calling!)

5 PM: Sometime in the past 15 minutes or so (since previous attempts), our service was restored, both incoming and outgoing voice calls – at least as tested with the AT&T phone we also have in the house.

5:06 PM: We’ve also received an update from Verizon: “A fiber issue in the core of the network caused some of our customers to experience intermittent call failures today. The issue was identified and resolved by Verizon engineers and the majority of impacted customers should be seeing service as usual. If any customer is still experiencing lingering issues, please restart your device. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

If you’re noticing brown water in North Admiral, you’re not alone. One resident we’ve heard from has called the Seattle Public Utilities number for reporting problems 24/7 – 206-386=1800 – and was told others had reported it, and that the problem was apparently related to construction in the area. Water discoloration is most often the result of sediment stirring up in the line – primarily rust.

Thanks for the tip. Just in case you experienced it too – we’re told some neighbors near Dragonfly Park in North Delridge had discolored water this afternoon/evening. It was reported to Seattle Public Utilities, and believed to be the result of hydrant testing in the area – hydrant use can stir up the sediment, mostly rust, in the water pipes. (It happened so much in the mid-2010s, SPU did a West Seattle-wide “flush.”) If you ever notice discolored water, be sure to report it to SPU at this 24-hour number: 206-386-1800.