Document 27: Municipal Problems
Washington State Pollution Control Commission, The Seattle Sewage Treatment Problem (Olympia: The Commission, 1948).
HISTORY
The rapid growth of the Seattle metropolitan area has resulted in numerous complex municipal problems. Constant attention has been given to providing food and shelter, improved transportation, and better education. The spectacular advancement in this problems has been accomplished at the expense of the sanitary problem of sewage disposal which in the past has received a minimum of attention. In dense settlements such as this metropolitan area there arise many conflicting demands on the land and water uses, and in order to protect the public health and welfare State agencies have be3en established to determine how these rights and uses may best be shared.
Many of the public health and sanitary problems have been solved by the establishment of high standards. The well established policy of chlorinating all municipal water supplies and the proper handling of milk and other foods has been so effective that former disease epidemics from these sources have been reduced to only scattered cases of sickness. The ever increasing problem of handling and treating sanitary sewage in this area has not been satisfactorily solved by responsible civic authorities.
Most sanitary authorities agree that the dumping of untreated sewage into natural bodies of water has many harmful results. The accumulation of sludge beds on private and public shore lines and beaches tends to create a muddy foul area unfit for most types of human use. The presence of B. Coli organisms (sewage indicators) in the water in the vicinity of swimming beaches indicates that this water is contaminated. Waters containing large quantities of sewage also render the various sea foods found therein such as fish, shrimp, clams and oysters unfit for human consumption. The Pollution Control Commission believes that cases of improper disposal of municipal sewage as well as the harmful results thereof should be forcefully brought to the attention of the general public.
Inland cities such as Ellensburg, Grandview, Sunnyside, Omak, Selah, Walla Walla as well as many others have long ago constructed plants for the treatment of sewage. Nominal utility charges have been established to maintain and improve many of these facilities. Cities such as Morton, Renton, Kirkland, and Burlington as well as many others in the coastal region have constructed treatment plants. In all there are about 40 treatment plants scattered throughout the State at the present time. Numerous cities are either building or actively planning treatment facilities. A considerable number of industries throughout the State are treating their waste waters either by chemical treatment or by settling and screening the solids from their plant effluent.
The problem of sewage treatment exists in most localities throughout the United States and in the past half century over 6,000 treatment plants have been erected. Many more municipal plants are being planned. Private industry has also been very active in an industrial waste treatment program. The expenditure of over $160,000,000 will be necessary before the industrial waste problem in the United States will near completion.
Prior to 1938 nearly all pollution control activities in this State were carried out under authority of public health statures. In 1938 a technical commission was established to work on pollution problems under the State Department of Health. An active survey and research program was conducted on the problems relating to municipal and industrial pollution and numerous technical bulletins were published by this Commission.
The present Pollution Control Commission was established under Chapter 216 of the Laws of 1945. The Commission was delegated the authority to establish regulations and standards, to conduct surveys, as well as to enforce the law in cases where violations are noted.
As a result of the overall program of the Commission treatment plants will be erected at Tacoma, Bellingham, Vancouver, Puyallup and many other cities in the near future. At the present time the first of two plants is under construction in the City of Bremerton and should be completed during the year 1949. It is expected that the second plant will be erected soon after the completion of the first.
For several years the Pollution Control Commission has investigated many instance of gross pollution of the waters adjacent to the City of Seattle. Water samples have been collected by members of the Commission staff and analyzed in the laboratory of the State Department of Health. These samples have shown that under tide and wind conditions all of the salt water bathing beaches of the City show varying degrees of pollution. B. Coli counts (sewage indicators) have ranged to as high as 2,400,000 which is definite proof that bathers are often in contact with waters containing various dilutions of sewage. A further and more detailed discussion of the bacteriological phase will be taken up later in this report.
During the year 1947 Dr. Able Wolman of Johns Hopkins University was retained by the City of Seattle to survey the entire sewage problem. At the initial joint meeting of the three agencies concerned it was decided that the City, the State Health Department and the State Pollution Control Commission would all take part in the collection and interpretation of the data pertinent to this investigation. Everything proceeded according to plan up to the final step—the drawing of the conclusions and recommendations. For this reason the Commission has found it necessary to publish the report which follows:
COMMENTS ON THE WOLMAN REPORT
It was the understanding of the Pollution Control Commission that the purpose of the Wolman Report was to provide the City of Seattle with a basis for future planning for sewage and industrial waste collection, treatment, and disposal and to furnish detailed information as to the methods of accomplishment. The report does not give any of the expected details. The basis for future planning seems to hinge on the interpretation of the recommendations. Some first interpretations have appeared in the newspapers to the effect that Seattle will never need to provide sewage treatment facilities. Since this is a far reaching conclusion and effects not only Seattle but all of the salt water areas in the State, it appears advisable to consider all of Wolmans' recommendations and conclusions and not only those which appear to recommend no treatment. Each and every conclusion and recommendation contained in the report is therefore quoted below with comments for the purpose of bring out all pertinent factors. . . .
3. THE CITY OF SEATTLE HAS NOT MADE LOGICAL AND EFFECTIVE USE OF PUGET SOUND FOR THE ADEQUATE DISPOSAL OF ITS MUNICIPAL SEWAGE, THROUGH THE FAILURE
(a) TO EXTEND ITS DISCHARGES INTO SUFFICIENTLY DEEP WATER AT MANY LOCATIONS.
(b) TO MAINTAIN DISCHARGES CONSISTENTLY CONTINUOUSLY AT DEEP WATER, WHERE ORIGINALLY SO PLANNED AND CONSTRUCTED, BY INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY OF DISCHARGE LINES, BY BREAKS IN OUTFALLS CLOSE TO SHORE, BY CONTINUED ADDITIONS OF STORM WATERS, OR BY VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF THESE DEFICIENCIES.
(c) TO DEVELOP THE MOST DESIRABLE POINTS OF DISCHARGE.
These are only a few of the instances where the City has been lax in its attention to the sewerage problem. There has been a need for a number of years for a re-valuation of the entire problem of sewers and outfalls. Most of the construction of recent date has been based on a plan adopted about thirty years ago. While the Commission is thoroughly in accord with planning for a considerable period in the future, it is felt that plans must, of necessity, be adjusted to meet the advances in engineering practice and the changing standards of living. Both the Department of Health and the Pollution Control Commission have, on many occasions, taken exception to the plans proposed and have called attention to the need for a new and modernized overall program.
It is pertinent at this point to call attention to the matter of the type of organization which is considered by many municipal governments as best adapted to finance and administer a sewerage program. Sewage collection, treatment and disposal is a utility function comparable to municipal water utilities and municipal power and light utilities. Both of the latter have, in almost all cases, proven to be more than self-sustaining. There is every reason to expect that the sewage utility will be equally sustained. Funds for construction, repairs, and operation are collected by nominal sewer service charges which are so regulated as to establish a fair and just charge to private and commercial users based on the actual use of the system. Almost all of the smaller communities in this State operate on this basis with service charges undoubtedly often in excess of that which will be necessary to adequately take care of Seattle's system. Construction in these cases is financed by utility bonds against the system and not by funds obtained by a general taxation.
As a utility the entire system will come under the control of an organization whose sole purpose is to administer the sewerage system problem. Specific funds are available for this use which normally results in more effective and competent administration. There is a definite need for such an arrangement in the City of Seattle.
