SEATTLE - Bryan Petersen and his dog Buddy enjoy their daily walk in Seattle's Discovery Park.
Just by looking, Petersen would never know millions of gallons of untreated, diluted sewage is floating nearby off shore.
"I think it's a very, very large amount. It's huge," said Petersen.
King County's Wastewater Treatment Division reports about 10 million gallons of untreated wastewater flowed into Elliott Bay beginning before 10 p.m. Monday.
West Point Treatment Plant manager Pam Elardo explains where the water comes from.
"The toilet and the streets and the roadways," he said.
Elardo says, as a precautionary measure, crews last night prepared for bad weather and a potential huge influx of stormwater into the wastewater treatment system. She said they followed protocol by getting a bypass gate ready to open, just in case of an emergency.
Instead of going into standby mode, the gate actually partially opened and diverted untreated wastewater into Puget Sound, Elardo said.
"We know there was an equipment malfunction. We don't know exactly what caused it," said Elardo.
Crews worked for about 3 hours before they could get the gate closed.
"It's really not acceptable to me and not acceptable to our division. It's against our mission, which is to protect public health and the environment," said Elardo.
Last year, King County's Wastewater Treatment Division had two other raw sewage spills. In May, crews mistakenly diverted a sewer pipe and dumped about 8 million gallons of waste into Ravenna Creek near the University of Washington. This follows a previous 410,000 gallon sewage spill in March that closed two Seattle beaches.
Investigating agencies are still waiting for water sample results from this latest spill.
The Department of Ecology expects a report in five days explaining the spill, and will then decide whether or not to fine the county.
"I think it's very unfortunate. The ecosystem is really fragile as it is. My only concern is to get it fixed and make sure it doesn't happen again," said Petersen.
Treatment plant workers plan to examine their equipment and their response to try to prevent any more sewage spills.
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