Council approves independent investigation of West Point disaster
Information provided by King County
The Metropolitan King County Council has given its unanimous approval to legislation authorizing a wide-ranging and fully independent investigation of what occurred in the lead up and aftermath of the catastrophic failure of systems at West Point wastewater treatment plant.
The adopted ordinance now places the Council in charge of an investigation into the breakdown at the plant on February 9, which has forced millions of gallons of untreated sewage and storm runoff into Puget Sound. The plant is still discharging mostly untreated water as of today.
“I’m very pleased that today the Council authorized a fully independent review of exactly what happened on February 9, when hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated storm water and raw sewage were dumped into the Sound,” said the prime sponsor of the motion, Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, whose district is where the West Point Treatment Plant is located. “The public deserves to know exactly what happened and why and how it happened, as well as deserves assurance that this will never happen again.”