Murray neighborhood advisory group favors sewer facility in Seattle’s Lincoln Park

Public meeting on Nov.1 to discuss project options, decision process, next steps

While King County will consider the Murray Basin Community Advisory Group’s recommendation, it doesn’t represent a final decision.

To ensure residents and park users have an opportunity to learn more and comment on the proposal, King County will host a public meeting on Monday, Nov. 1, at the Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave. SW, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The advisory group was formed in June to represent community interests in decisions related to King County’s Murray Basin Combined Sewer Overflow Project.

After several months of meetings and technical sessions that were open to the public, the group recommends King County consider building a 1.25-million-gallon storage tank beneath Lincoln Park’s south parking lot, along with below-ground odor control and electrical control structures. The proposal would also entail building a 100,000-gallon storage tank at the bottom of the Murray Basin in the vicinity of Lowman Beach Park.

Combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, occur in older parts of Seattle where pipes were built decades ago to convey both sewage and stormwater. During heavy rains, these pipes can fill to capacity and overflow into local water bodies. Controlling CSOs in these areas is one of the most important steps the County can take to protect public health and the environment.

King County is still evaluating a number of CSO control alternatives in West Seattle, including upland Green Stormwater Infrastructure, a storage facility beneath the old Fauntleroy School or Upper Fauntleroy Way near the ferry dock, and several options in the Murray Basin.

King County’s final decision will factor in engineering feasibility, cost, community impacts, operations and maintenance, environmental impacts, and land use and permitting requirements. The public meeting is an opportunity for King County to learn more about the public response to the CAG’s preferred alternative.

Other proposals considered by the CAG include:
• Building four underground storage tanks at Gatewood Elementary School, Solstice Park, private property at 6401 California Ave. SW and another private property off Southwest Holly Street near 48th Avenue Southwest.
• Building a combination of green stormwater infrastructure in Barton and Murray neighborhoods along with storage tanks in the Murray Basin.
• A 1-million-gallon storage tank near the intersection of Murray Avenue Southwest and Lincoln Parkway Southwest.
• Installing combined pipe and storage near Lowman Beach Park that would require the acquisition of private property.

To protect public health and the environment, King County is making it a priority to control CSOs at popular recreation areas where people play and swim in West Seattle, North Beach and Magnolia.

Those unable to attend the meeting are invited to review documents and provide feedback at the project website at:
http://www.kingcounty.gov\CSOBeachProjects.

To request additional information, to provide feedback on the proposals, or to arrange reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities at the meeting, please contact Erika Peterson at 206-296-8229 or e-mail erika.peterson@kingcounty.gov.

People enjoy clean water and a healthy environment because of King County's wastewater treatment program. The county’s Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 17 cities, 17 local sewer districts 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.

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

Puget Sound Beach CSO Control Projects

Central Puget Sound Watershed

Puget Sound marine topics

King County Wastewater Treatment