Several Whidbey beaches remain closed all year long for recreational shellfish harvest because of sewage treatment outfall.
Sewage treatment outfall. Not stormwater.
Reporting on this topic appears to be completely off limits to the press.
View the Washington State Department of Health beach list here.
Two images above:
City of Anacortes, WA
Storm drains on the street are marked with reminders to keep pollutants out of the salt water.
The City of Anacortes, WA has prepared an explanation of their Storm Drainage System.
View it here.
Oak Harbor, WA
Storm Drain
Big rains arrive in Oak Harbor
Two local news articles describe the impact of big rains back in February of 2020. The most recent article describes potential upgrades to the sewage treatment plant to prepare for a similar event in the future.
The recent article also describes an Oak Harbor manhole cover that was shot into the air: Heavy rainfall exceeded the capacity of the city’s treatment plant. A manhole cover exploded and water flooded several homes and about a million gallons of untreated sewage was dumped into Puget Sound.”
We have some questions for the press on Whidbey Island.
Oak Harbor
How does a big rainstorm blow a manhole cover into the air and allow sewage to pour out onto a city street if the storm drains are separate from lines that are routed from toilets to the treatment plant?
How does a big rainstorm allow sewage to be dumped into the city’s harbor because the new treatment plant can’t keep up with a huge increase in the flow if the storm drains are separate from lines that are routed from toilets to the treatment plant?
How is adding more membrane filtration units at the plant going to help with big rains if the storm drains are separate from lines that are routed from toilets to the treatment plant?
Penn Cove
In the Penn Cove area, are storm drains separate from lines that are routed from toilets to the treatment plant?
Daily Penn Cove status reports from WDFW:
Coupeville – just west of Captain Thomas Coupe Park
“This beach is within the closure area for a sewage treatment plant outfall and is unsafe for recreational shellfish harvesting.”
Source: WDFW
North side of Penn Cove at Monroe Landing
“This beach is within the closure area for a sewage treatment plant outfall and is unsafe for recreational shellfish harvesting.”
Source: WDFW
Both news articles here:
February 7, 2020 South Whidbey Record
Excess rain causes sewage discharges on Whidbey
September 25, 2020 Whidbey News-Times
Sewage plant continues to be money suck
Distance learning idea:
Podcast 4 Another Month With An R – Whidbey Sewage Treatment Plant Outfalls
Whidbey Waters – Mixed Signals of Concern
March 13, 2020 Whidbey News-Times
4th grade students publish book on Salish Sea
“Invisible Pollution in the Salish Sea”
School teachers,
Are you teaching your students to look for green colors on the Recreational Shellfish Safety Map?
Related:
Whidbey Island Toilet Flush or Rain Water?
“…talking to officials at the Town of Coupeville…”
Green colors show safe places for recreational shellfish
4 Stories The Puget Sound Press Will Not Question Or Report On
Whidbey Signs of Water Quality
When Things Get Back To Normal
Ready To Purchase A Subscription – Whidbey Water Quality
I will purchase a subscription to any Puget Sound area newspaper working to inform us on Whidbey water quality impacted by sewage treatment plant outfalls.
Ready to Support Local News on Whidbey Island
It looks like both Whidbey papers have stripped away all comments from past articles, and removed the opportunity to post comments to new articles.
I’d be more interested in paying (again) for a local paper subscription if there was more in the way of newspeople asking questions.
Elimination of reader comments works against the idea of paying for an online subscription.
Manage it, don’t ban it. Online comment sections
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