Power outage causes sewer overflow in West Seattle

A power failure in West Seattle last night knocked out electricity at King County’s Murray Avenue Pump Station, causing a sewage overflow near Lowman Beach Park.

County employees responded quickly and installed a portable generator to provide back up power during the outage. Crews stopped the overflow within 30 minutes.

It’s estimated that about 65,000 gallons of wastewater was discharged through the pump station’s emergency outfall into Puget Sound.

County staff took water quality samples and notified health and regulatory agencies about the overflow.

Utility power was back online within two hours and the facility is again operating normally.

Note to editors and reporters: Visit the WTD Newsroom, a portal to information for the news media about the Wastewater Treatment Division, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Newsroom.aspx.

Related information

King County Wastewater Treatment