Heathfield Pipe Repair and Environmental Restoration

Sept. 20 Update

King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) is contacting you to provide an update on work at the Heathfield Pump Station and the environmental restoration in surrounding areas. You may unsubscribe from these emails at any time.

The following is a summary of our activities to date and an update on what to expect in the next week.

Pipe repairs at the Heathfield Pump Station

Following the Aug. 15 wastewater spill caused by a damaged force main pipe, King County quickly mobilized a contractor to replace about 100 feet of the damaged pipe behind the pump station. The pipe replacement work and temporary site restoration was completed in early September.

Activities completed the week of Sept. 16:

Our operations crew successfully tested a new valve at the pump station that was installed last week. The old valve was damaged during the Aug. 15 spill.

Activities planned for the week of Sept. 23:

Operations staff will continue their maintenance work at the pump station to prepare the facility for the upcoming wet season.

What to expect for near neighbors:

• Vehicles will come and go from the pump station property while operation staff work inside.

Vasa (Squibbs) Creek

Activities completed the week of Sept. 16:

King County’s Environmental Lab processed the sediment samples. Our Environmental Services Unit is working with internal and external urban creek experts to analyze and compare the results to other urban creek ecosystems.

Activities planned for the week of Sept. 23:

We will continue to analyze the sediment sample results and work with urban creek experts and public health agencies to determine if there are remaining public health risks caused by the spill in the creek. Once our analysis is completed, we will determine if further restoration is needed and provide any safety guidance.

We ask that the public continue to avoid contact with the creek until further notice.

Pipe relining and future work

King County is in the early stages of designing a pipe relining project to rehabilitate up to 1,700 feet of the damaged force main. We are working with the City of Bellevue and the Washington State Department of Transportation to secure permits for this work. We are also working with a contractor to begin this work as soon as possible. We expect the relining effort to take at least six months to design, construct, and fully restore the work area.

For more information about the relining effort, please see the Sept. 6 update. We will share more details about the relining plan and expected impacts as they become available.

Public information and outreach

We will continue to share updates via email with the community weekly while activities continue at the pump station and nearby environmental areas.

Once updates have been sent via email, they will be posted to our project webpage at kingcounty.gov/heathfield-pipeline-repair. You will also find past updates on the page.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not approach workers onsite, for your safety and the safety of the crew. Instead, call the Community Services leads at (206) 263-4088 and leave a message. Someone will return your call as soon as possible.