Originally published Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:10 PM
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Power outage causes sewage spill into Sound
A wastewater overflow was quickly halted by utility crews after a power outage disrupted pump-station operations Tuesday, but not before 40,000 gallons of wastewater had escaped into the Puget Sound.
About 40,000 gallons of wastewater escaped the city's sewage system Tuesday afternoon when a power outage disrupted the Murray Avenue Pump Station in West Seattle.
Sewer utility crews from King County's Wastewater Treatment Division quickly halted the overflow and countered the power outage with a portable emergency generator, but not before the wastewater had flowed for nearly 20 minutes through any emergency outfall into Puget Sound near Lowman Beach Park.
In response to the spill, county workers also took water-quality samples, posted beach warning signs and notified health and regulatory agencies.
Strong wind gusts — up to 52 miles per hour — had cut off electricity to about 2,800 customers in West Seattle.
The Murray Avenue station sends wastewater from West Seattle to the West Point Treatment Plant in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.
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