Do you know what happens to water that is washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet? Most people don’t think about it, but it makes a complicated journey through a sophisticated system of underground pipes to a treatment facility. Once cleaned, it is discharged to Puget Sound.
King County’s West Point Treatment Plant has been vulnerable to potential overflows into Puget Sound, especially during severe storms when strong winds and heavy rainfall can cause power fluctuations. It only takes a momentary power disruption to cause electrical equipment to protectively shut down the treatment plant’s pumps, discharging raw sewage into Puget Sound.
To respond to this problem, last Friday leaders celebrated the launch of King County’s West Point Treatment Plant Power Quality Project. This first-of-its-kind back-up battery facility provides the treatment plant with reliable onsite power to better prepare Puget Sound’s largest treatment facility for climate impacts. As Chair of King County’s Regional Water Quality Committee, I applaud this innovative solution to ensure that our wastewater treatment system is running continuously and reliably so that we can better protect our waterways, people, and wildlife.
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King County’s Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) fund, a 0.1% sales tax, supports a broad range of mental health and substance use care throughout the county, from prevention and education to critical interventions for people in crisis to everyday mental health services. The MIDD fund is up for renewal next year and we need to hear from the community to make sure these investments are going to where the needs are greatest.
Attend a local listening session with the Department of Community and Human Services, including one on Monday, September 23 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village. Refreshments and gift cards will be provided for participants. If you can’t attend a listening session or would like to provide written input, you can take King County’s Behavioral Health Survey, open now and available in 21 languages. Your feedback will help us provide better behavioral health services throughout King County!
In 2022, as Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) President, I led the push for a new approach to traffic safety to tackle the crisis of increasing serious injuries and deaths on our streets. Since then, PSRC has taken important steps forward to say we don’t have to accept death, injury, suffering, and grief as a necessary part of our transportation system.
Next Thursday, join PSRC for a public meeting to provide your ideas and input about how to take action to make streets safer across the Puget Sound region. Your feedback is critical to help planners and decision-makers fund and build transparent, accountable systems to save lives using the Safe System approach.
Reserve a spot to attend the Sept. 26 Safety Action Plan meeting from 5-7 pm at El Centro de La Raza (2524 16th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144):
Safely storing your firearms is a key part of being a responsible gun owner. Alarmingly, about a third of firearm owners with children and half of those without kids don’t store their firearms in a locked box. In an effort to promote safer storage, the King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention is excited to invite you to a special event.
On September 26, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, the Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention, in partnership with the Seattle Seahawks, Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and Urban Family will host the 100 Days of Action Gun Lockbox Giveaway. Stop by to receive a free lockbox and get connected to resources and community support at the 100 Days of Action community resource fair.
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