King County replaces part of old sewer line in Lincoln Park

To protect public health and water quality, a King County contractor has replaced about 70 feet of a broken 30-inch sewer line in Lincoln Park in West Seattle. Wastewater workers discovered a sewer leak in the 50-year-old pipe Jan. 17 following heavy rains.

King County worked with the Seattle Parks Department during the emergency project to protect park users with detours around the construction area. The work was in the beachside asphalt trail at the south end of the park. Restoration of the work area is under way.

The Barton Street Pump Station south of the park is again pushing wastewater from the Fauntleroy area through a 6,250-foot pipeline to the county's Murray Avenue Pump Station at Lowman Beach Park.

To protect water quality in Puget Sound and keep wastewater out of the sewer line during repairs, a county contractor intercepted wastewater before it reached the broken pipe and hauled it in trucks from the Barton station to the county's combined sewer overflow treatment plant at Alki.

King County discovered the leak early Tuesday afternoon. The county posted the beach as closed, took water samples, and told health and regulatory agencies about the leak. Neighbors of all affected work sites were told about the county's emergency response and repairs.

During major storms, the Barton station works as an outfall for excess rain combined with diluted wastewater. Flows normally go to King County's West Point Treatment Plant, which treats up to 440 million gallons of wastewater a day during storms. When stormwater gets into the pipes and they fill beyond capacity, the overflow goes through the outfall south of Lincoln Park. King County and the City of Seattle are carrying out a multimillion-dollar program to prevent most combined sewer overflows.

King County's Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 17 cities, 17 local sewer utilities and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Formerly called Metro, the regional clean-water agency now operated by King County has been preventing water pollution for more than 40 years.