Snoqualmie, Wash. — After almost half a million gallons of sewage water poured into the Snoqualmie River, the city of Snoqualmie is facing a hefty fine.
Department of Ecology officials have fined the city $32,000 for failing to properly prepare for and respond to a power outage at the Snoqualmie wastewater treatment plant. A power outage on the night of Nov. 15, 2013, caused critical equipment at the facility to stop working. State officials said the alarm system failed to alert operators, who did not find out about the outage until the next evening.
Shawn McKone, who is the Department of Ecology's facility manager for the site and inspects it, said the plant was supposed to have a back-up chlorine disinfection system, but did not. The Department of Ecology said the events led to 420,000 gallons of only partially treated wastewater with excessive levels of bacteria being released into the Snoqualmie River.
"People can get sick, being in contact with that," McKone said.
Lee Elliott told KIRO 7 his kids played in the water last summer and were just playing on the river's banks on Wednesday.
"They can rub their eyes and mouths, and yeah, that's worrying," Elliott said.
McKone said the system is still not reliable.
"Right now, as the system is, could this happen again?" KIRO 7 asked.
"The errors could happen," he said.
McKone said the city failed to notify the Department of Ecology within 24 hours of discovering the violation. But Snoqualmie's Public Works Director Daniel Marcinko said the city disagrees that there was any violation at all and said the filtration system was working. He said the city plans to appeal and couldn't speak in detail when KIRO 7 asked him about the specific violations.
"We can't comment on that at this time," he said. "What we have to do is we have to further investigate as to the timing of what is being stipulated in the violation."
This is not the first fine the facility has received. In 2009 the Department of Ecology cited? the city $24,500 for releasing wastewater that violated standards for bacteria and suspended solid materials. State officials said the city failed to notify them for months. Investigators found out key parts of the treatment system badly needed maintenance.
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