State investigating how Olympia sewage spill went undetected
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State investigators are trying to figure out how a massive sewage spill in Olympia went undetected for two months. The spill sent more than a million gallons of raw sewage into Puget Sound.
"It's horrible for marine life and people, I know there are standup paddle boarders that get their feet in it," said Olympia resident Trever Pollman.
Only storm water should come out of a pipe that extends from underground, to Budd Inlet, but this week the city realized the pipe was contaminated with sewage.
"It's unfortunate, should have never happened in the first place," said Public Works Director Rich Hoey. "And then of course very disappointing that it went on for a two-month period until we found it."
The city admitted its mistake, but 1.5 million gallons of sewage had already hit Puget Sound.
How did the sewage get out? A maze of pipes run under the city of Olympia -- some carry storm water, others, sewage. Hoey says a crew failed to replace a barrier or plug after doing some maintenance and that let the sewage flow.
"So this was really a breakdown in our work processes," Hoey said.
Hoey says he already made changes, creating more detailed work orders, adding information to maps and follow up inspections.
"Preventing these kinds of spills is really a critical function and our top priority and we're just extremely disappointed that we had a break down in our processes," Hoey said. "We're going to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The city reported its spill to the Department of Ecology and the state is investigating, although they say it's unlikely the city will be fined for its actions.
Budd Inlet was already closed to shell fishing. The Thurston County Health Department says there are no additional health risks from the spill.
"It's horrible for marine life and people, I know there are standup paddle boarders that get their feet in it," said Olympia resident Trever Pollman.
Only storm water should come out of a pipe that extends from underground, to Budd Inlet, but this week the city realized the pipe was contaminated with sewage.
"It's unfortunate, should have never happened in the first place," said Public Works Director Rich Hoey. "And then of course very disappointing that it went on for a two-month period until we found it."
The city admitted its mistake, but 1.5 million gallons of sewage had already hit Puget Sound.
How did the sewage get out? A maze of pipes run under the city of Olympia -- some carry storm water, others, sewage. Hoey says a crew failed to replace a barrier or plug after doing some maintenance and that let the sewage flow.
"So this was really a breakdown in our work processes," Hoey said.
Hoey says he already made changes, creating more detailed work orders, adding information to maps and follow up inspections.
"Preventing these kinds of spills is really a critical function and our top priority and we're just extremely disappointed that we had a break down in our processes," Hoey said. "We're going to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The city reported its spill to the Department of Ecology and the state is investigating, although they say it's unlikely the city will be fined for its actions.
Budd Inlet was already closed to shell fishing. The Thurston County Health Department says there are no additional health risks from the spill.
A good enough reason not to take anything at all from there or nearby waters for a spell, yuk. What is the half life of that crap?
Olympia?
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Sewage spill?
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Gregiore?
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This is so hard. Expect more, elitist leftist dolts that elected Inslee. Stink is going to get worse.
 @pbs7mm You forgot the fact that no fine is expected. 1,500,000 gallons
of raw sewage, and no EPA fine.
 @pete1427  @pbs7mm One Government agency fining another? That sounds like a real cluster I&)(*& to me! That makes as much sense as charging government agencies a sales tax, and then having to pay them back with the same tax money.
Yet one more large stinking mess out of Olyimpa
The sh-t spewing out of Olympia for countless years past and apparently decades into the future is the reason me AND MY MONEY moved away.
Why the concern now? You like that stinking sh-tty smell.
You must, that's what you voted in, AGAIN.
The road conditions in WA state remind me of a 3rd world country. I never see the roads this bad when I travel overseas. Now we can add that the sewer system is sometimes like a 3rd world country as well. What a joke.
 @Hambingo Travel to Venice, and you will smell what they did/do with sewage in that swamp pit.
 @Hambingo When was the last time you were in a 3rd world country?
What do you expect from union labor?
good thing theres no health risk , oh was that obama , seems oly and the gov both full of the same thing , full of crap
Someone who plays solitare all day for 200k a year should be able to figure this crap out on a Friday! Right?
So if I made the mistake as a private resident of this state that caused this spill I would be fined and possibly imprisoned because of this mistake. And there is no way I could have dumped 1.5 million gallons of raw waste. What is happening to this city employee that made this mistake? I hope at least the person (or persons) lose their job including the management and trainer. Most likely though they will get a reprimand in their union docket and it will be business as usual. The next employee will have no motivation to do the job right because they are union workers.
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I fully understand though why nobody noticed the smell being so close to our capital.
 @Beam_Me_Up Thats just the way it works. They fail all the time and instead of a 100 gallons or so from a residential spill you have hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage flowing into our water ways. We have 2 in Bremerton and they both fail every year. No fines, no one gets fired. But you can bet your ass if it was a privately run treatment center they fine their butts off.
Oh so gross, although marine life is saying something worst. I would love to see this cleaned up super fast.
Raw sewage spewing out of Olympia. How fitting.
I wonder what the lag time was between people calling in complaining about the smell to someone actually looking into the issue and discovering the problem.
City, county, state or federal workers kinda says it all how this could happened..
great oversight there....what the heck do these gov't agencies do all day?
Time to put an end to these septic treatment centers. I understand why you have to have them in major cities but more and more they're using them in small dvelopment areas and they always fail and then the customers are forced to pick up the tab. Just regular single residential septic tanks work much better and are much more reliable and you don't get raped on the monthly fees.
 @Blindman Ever drive thru some of these new housing developments where the exterior wall of adjoining homes are about 5 feet apart? Ever look at the back yards that are 10 feet deep? How would you get a septic tank and drain field in there? Do you know anything about the current standards for septic tanks and drain fields? And most cities will no longer allow a new septic system for new residential construction. Over the last 20 years and probably more, most large neighborhoods were required to connect to sewers.
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Sure this was a big mistake in Olympia but it's been caught and hopefully besides the new procedures, the employees that screwed up are now going to have to clean sewer pipes with toothbrushes.
 @Veteran  @Blindman Yep, poor zoning ordinances allowing houses to be built that close together. A septic system has to be 10 feet from any property line. Just very poor regulation of septic systems to try and gouge people into hooking up to a continually failing public system. Have one going in here. So far I,m not being forced to hook up to it but it looks like in probably about 3 years I will. Have perfectly working septic system. Will be forced to spend $10,000 for a hookup fee, approximately $30,000 for the pipe,pump and labor and then be charged $100 a month all for something I don't need. And then on top of that the new system is less than a year old and it already had one major failure. Its getting to be a real racket.