Two wastewater pump stations in West Seattle are again operating normally after a freak tide surge forced water from Puget Sound into the sewer system, straining capacity at one station and causing a possible overflow at another.

It’s believed that a higher than normal tide combined with a strong low pressure weather system created a tide surge that pushed sea water into King County’s Barton Pump Station on the north side of the Fauntleroy ferry dock about 7:30 a.m.

The deluged Barton station forced high volumes of sea water and wastewater through a 6,250-foot pipeline to the county’s Murray Avenue Pump Station at Lowman Beach Park, where operators at King County’s South Treatment Plant in Renton detected a possible overflow shortly after 8 a.m.

Wastewater Treatment Division crews responding to the overflow alert reported that the tide was the highest they’d ever seen near the pump station. Crews are unable to determine at this time if any raw sewage overflowed from the inundated pump station into Puget Sound and will continue investigating.

As a precautionary measure, county employees took water quality samples, posted warning signs on the beach and notified health and regulatory agencies about the possible overflow. Both pump stations are undamaged and operating normally. Crews will continue to closely monitor the system over the next several days.

The Barton and Murray Avenue pump stations are part of the regional wastewater system that pumps flows to King County's West Point Treatment Plant in Seattle. High tides are becoming a greater concern for county wastewater planners as engineers predict that climate change will produce global rises in sea level in addition to wetter winters in the Pacific Northwest, both of which could have an impact on the normal operation of sewer facilities in the Puget Sound region. Division planners are already taking steps to protect the valuable assets in its system.

In 2008, the division’s Planning and Asset Management employees completed an inventory of wastewater facilities that could be at risk for possible climate change-related flooding and storm surges over the coming decades. Out of the five identified, four are slated for upgrades or modifications within the next five years, presenting an opportunity to economically incorporate design changes to better protect these facilities from sea level rise for the next generation of ratepayers.

Additional information about the Wastewater Treamtent Division’s climate change planning efforts is available on the Web at http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/About/RespondingToClimateChan…