Seattle treatment plant again dumping wastewater into Puget Sound

SEATTLE -- A treatment plant impacted by an equipment failure last week is again dumping millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the Puget Sound.

King County's West Point Treatment Plant has been operating at about half of its designed capacity after a Feb. 9 equipment failure during a storm.

Heavy rains Wednesday morning, combined with the plant's equipment issues, triggered a partial bypass of the treatment system and caused wastewater and untreated sewage to dump into the Sound, King County Spokesperson Doug Williams said.

About 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater is flowing into the Sound per day, Williams said. Of that, 90 percent is stormwater and 10 percent is untreated sewage.

King County regulatory agencies have been notified about the dump, and are warning people to avoid contact with water over the next several days as a precaution. Warning signs are posted at North Beach and South Beach in Discovery Park.

Crews continue to assess damage at the plant from the Feb. 9 failure.

Q13 News will update this story throughout the day.