West Seattle is no stranger to drainage issues with springs and other water sources causing problems. District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold addressed one of them near the intersection of California Ave SW and SW Orchard Street in her newsletter to constituents.

Herbold writes:

Last October several Gatewood neighborhood residents contacted me about the water collection located at California Ave SW and SW Orchard St.  They had already contacted Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) without resolution of the problem. The water that seeped onto the sidewalk and roadway would freeze in the winter. My staff and I reached out to SPU and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to ask if a solution could be found.

The new year brought good news, and I was notified two weeks ago that SPU was able to fix this problem. You may have already learned this since the work was actually completed shortly before the new year. Drainage and Wastewater operations staff at SPU discovered an abandoned storm water pipe.  This allowed SPU to correct the problem of the water seepage because that they have been able to use the abandoned storm water pipe as a connection to newly route the water away from the sidewalk and street surface.

I want to thank everyone for their continued advocacy in order to resolve this issue.  My efforts would not have been as effective without your voices demonstrating to SPU that the water accumulation was an issue of concern. The observations of residents in this area monitoring the occurrence of this accumulation of water was critical to the identification of a solution.