Help SPU with Combined Sewer Overflow Plans

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Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is seeking community members who would like to serve on a Sounding Board to help guide the development of a long-term plan (LTCP) to control Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) in the City of Seattle. The Clean Water Act requires that Seattle reduce CSOs. Seattle Public Utilities is developing a comprehensive Long-term Control Plan (LTCP) to lay out the capital investments necessary to meet that goal.

These actions will include retrofitting the system for greater efficiency, building storage facilities, and green stormwater infrastructure where appropriate. The Sounding Board will provide a diverse set of perspectives from across the City. SPU is seeking individuals who can see the big picture, as well as effectively represent a particular point of view and provide constructive advice about important investment decisions. Further, SPU is hoping to identify people from each quadrant of the city (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest) to represent interests in those geographic areas.

Sounding Board members will be asked to:

  • Quickly develop an understanding of the data and rationale for projects
  • Assist in developing and applying criteria to make decisions about the best alternatives
  • Review and comment on the elements of the LTCP
  • Provide guidance on public involvement activities and communications designed to engage stakeholders throughout the development of the LTCP

The first series of Sounding Board meetings will be from May to early July, 2010, with a meeting held about every other week. The meetings will resume in the fall with another set of meetings and then again in early 2011.

If you are interested in being considered as a member of the Sounding Board, please send an e-mail to CSO Program Public Involvement Coordinator Susan Stoltzfus (susan.stoltzfus@seattle.gov) by April 2, 2010. Please include “Sounding Board” in the subject line and include your name, address, and phone number. Provide a brief description (2-4 paragraphs) that includes: 1) your background, 2) your current affiliations and how you would represent your quadrant of the city, and 3) why you are interesting in taking part. Please feel free to contact Susan if you have questions or would like to suggest others who may want to be considered.

Sightline Publishes Simple Rainwater Garden DIY Instructions

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Sightline has published a simple set of instructions for Do-It-Yourself rain gardens. Rain barrels, French drains and swales are all terms depicting a way to capture runoff. Green solutions to stormwater runoff sound fancy and complicated, but they’re not.

The basic principal for controlling stormwater in an Earth-friendly way is to keep the water where it falls and help it soak into the ground. Homeowners can do this by following any or all of the low-impact development strategies highlighted in this Sightline guide http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2010/03/08/stormwater-diy published online.

Combined Sewer Overflow Projects Briefings Scheduled

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This is an update from King County on the Combined Sewer Overflow projects. Since May 2009, the CSO Beach Projects team has selected a range of alternative means for CSO control in four Puget Sound Beach communities:

  • Barton (Fauntleroy community in West Seattle)
  • Murray (Morgan community in West Seattle)
  • Magnolia
  • North Beach

These Combined Sewer Overflow control projects will help manage peak flows from areas connected to King County’s CSO facilities and limit discharges of untreated stormwater and sewage to Puget Sound. King County Wastewater Treatment has developed three alternatives for each project area. To learn more about this range of alternative means, and our progress so far, please visit our website at www.kingcounty.gov/CSOBeachProjects.

King County will hold four public meetings in March to propose these alternatives and hear public input and questions.  They invite you to attend.

Schedule of meetings for West Seattle locations:

  • Barton/Fauntleroy, Thursday, March 18, 6:00 – 8:30 pm, Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle Street
  • Murray/Morgan, Monday, March 29, 6:00 – 8:30 pm, Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle Street

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Urban Green Infrastructure Forum

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Natural Solutions for Stormwater Problems

The Duwamish River Clean-up Coalition and the EOS Alliance present this free seminar.

Residents of Seattle are no strangers to rain…or the problems of flooded streets. In addition to being a nuisance, Seattle’s stormwater run-off impairs public safety, parking and vehicle mobility, traffic flow, and ultiamtely the natural environment. Our Seattle community needs a cost-effective and healthy method to deal with stormwater run-off. One solution is natural drainage, low impact development, or other green infrastructure improvements.

Join DRCC and EOS Alliance in Georgetown for a panel discussion and informational forum focusing on natural drainage in the Seattle area. A panel with members of the government, scientific community, and private sector will offer their perspective on the problem as well as opportunities, and answer questions from the community. Following the panel, there will be a breakout session to give attendees a chance to work in groups to discuss stormwater issues that they are facing. Bring pictures/information showing examples of stormwater problems in your neighborhood!

Panel Members Are:

RSVP to bkantner@eosalliance.org, re: “Green Forum” by March 5th

Refreshments and snacks will be served at 5:30 pm. The forum will start at 6:00 pm with a short introduction to stormwater issues, low impact development, and a local bioswale success story, followed by a panel discussion and Q & A. A breakout session will then lead into a discussion of participants’ stormwater concerns and concluding remarks.

For more information please email Ben Kantner at EOS Alliance at bkantner@eosalliance.org or call 206-762-2553.

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Duwamish Superfund Site 5-year Review Completed

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Seattle, Feb 14, 2010 – In September the Environmental Protection Agency completed their second five-year review for the Pacific Sound Resources site (the Duwamish Superfund area). The review identified follow-up work which is planned for the next five years, including:

  • Revising EPA’s 1999 cleanup decision based on a better understanding of standards needed for long-term protection of ground water, surface water, and sediment (mud).
  • Gathering information to see whether contamination is entering Elliott Bay.
  • Adding more clean material to the sediment cap in the deepest water at the site.
  • Working with the U.S. Coast Guard to protect the cap by restricting use of large commercial boat anchors.
  • Evaluating indoor air quality at a maintenance building.

Contact Ravi Sanga (sanga.ravi@epa.gov) at 206-553-4092 or Cindy C. Schuster (schuster.cindy@epa.gov) or 206-553-1815 for more information. Hard copies are available for review at the EPA Region 10 Superfund Records Center in Seattle.

Or, you can review most of the material at the EPS’s Puget Sound Resources webpage http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/cleanup.nsf/sites/PSR/.

Editor’s Note:  This was originally published late 2009 but is worth re-publishing because of the ongoing commitment to the Duwamish River Cleanup.