Recommendation time draws near for Murray overflow solution

While relatively routine work continues at Murray Pump Station in Lowman Beach Park, decision time is nearing for a complicated process to figure out how to reduce overflows from that station – the so-called “combined sewer overflows” that happen if runoff from heavy rain in the “basin” that feeds the station overwhelms the system. If you have been keeping an eye on the process (explained here), you know that the neighborhood did not exactly cheer the three options presented by the county back in March (WSB coverage here) – and at a subsequent meeting (WSB coverage here), suggested a citizens’ advisory group. The county took the suggestion; that group’s been meeting since June and is now close to finalizing its recommendations. At its latest meeting Wednesday night, the group narrowed down a list of 16 options (which in turn were from an even longer list that had emerged from their discussions plus expanded county recommendations) – deciding that they would continue looking at five. Read on for details:

The two that appeared to have the most support were from the list of 9 options that the community group had developed along the way. CAG 2, “Install storage in Lincoln Park,” could potentially put a 1,250,000-gallon storage tank in the area of Colman Pool. CAG 9 is too complex for a subtitle – its components are “explore combination of green infrastructure and additional storage in Barton to reduce peak flows to Murray, implement green stormwater infrastructure in Murray Basin to provide additional CSO control reliability, and provide remaining required Murray storage volume at intersection of Murray SW and Lincoln Park Way SW.”

Three other options moved on despite a lack of major enthusiasm – King County 1B, a million-gallon circular storage tank at Murray SW/Lincoln Park Way SW; King County 1F, combined pipe and rectangular storage under what’s currently private property near Lowman Beach and under Beach Drive; and CAG 8, which would distribute a total million gallons of storage between four locations described as “dry cleaner on California Ave., Gatewood Elementary School, 48th and Holly, Solstice Park, and divert existing flooding problem on Graham St. to storage at dry cleaner.”

As King County is due to decide next month – a lot later than originally planned – which option it will put forth for serious study, the citizens’ advisory group needs to wrap up its work by month’s end. It’s planning on a workshop on September 27th and then an official meeting September 28th, to finalize its proposal. The handouts from this past Wednesday’s meeting aren’t online yet but should be soon, here.

Kelly K September 17, 2010 (7:56 am)

The green infrastructure option is so exciting. In my opinion, it’s a huge win for the neighborhood: free street beautification that happens to serve a water quality protection purpose.

Here is a map of the neighborhood that would be affected (it’s Basin 416 in their terms):
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BeachCSO/Basins/Barton/ProjectAlts/3.aspx

For more information about other natural drainage projects around the city, visit:
http://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/Drainage_&_Sewer_System/GreenStormwaterInfrastructure/NaturalDrainageProjects/index.htm

kgdlg September 17, 2010 (4:14 pm)

I too love the green infrastructure idea but have to say that I do not believe this is realistic given how drastically we need to reduce overflow events in this basin. I was at one meeting where they said that more than 50% of the basin would need to implement rain harvesting and/or natural filtration at their homes. I do not believe that this is possible unless there is substantial financial incentive for homeowners to do this and/or they are forced to do this. I installed four rain barrels in my small house this year at a cost of almost $500. Asking half of the basin to spend $500 each on something like this is no small thing and would need to be subsidized to reach that 50% goal. Layer on top of this that a good portion of the basin is on steep slopes means that natural filtration is not a great option for everyone. I am not necessarily in favor of losing the tennis court there, but we need to ask ourselves whether saving puget sound is worth losing a tennis court on the water.

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