Heathfield Pipe Repair Project

Sept. 27 Update

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

The following is a summary of our activities to date and a project status update. As the pace of work slows down for now, updates will be sent as needed rather than weekly going forward.

Vasa (Squibbs) Creek

We have completed our assessment of Vasa Creek. Following guidance from Public Health – Seattle & King County, we have concluded that there is no remaining public health risk associated with the wastewater overflow in the creek, and no further cleanup is needed. Our sediment sample results show some bacteria is present in the creek sediment, which can be expected for an urban creek due to stormwater runoff pollution.

The initial cleanup efforts included removing trash that entered the creek because of the overflow. Water quality tests returned to normal in August. Based on guidelines provided by Public Health, elevated bacteria levels that may have resulted from the overflow would begin to diminish immediately and would have died off within approximately seven days. Now, six weeks post-incident, any bacteria present in the creek is unlikely to be linked to the overflow.

We coordinated with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the City of Bellevue regarding potential habitat impacts to the creek from the overflow. No concerns were identified, and no habitat restoration is proposed.

As a reminder to those living near Vasa Creek or Lake Sammamish, Public Health advises caution when entering any urban creek or other water body, especially after heavy rainfall. Check King County’s Lake Swimming Bacteria page to learn more.

Ongoing maintenance

Over the next few weeks, operations staff will continue their maintenance work at the pump station to prepare the facility for the wet season. You can expect to see County vehicles come and go from the pump station property while operation staff work inside.

Future pipe repair work

We are in the early stages of designing a pipe rehabilitation project to repair up to 1,700 feet of the damaged force main, in addition to the 100 feet of pipe replacement that was completed following the Aug. 15 incident. This section of pipe runs northwest of the pump station along Southeast 35th Place and connects to a larger sewer main uphill, near the Southeast Eastgate Way intersection. The damaged force main was installed in 1983 and was not part of the 2022 upgrade project.

Our project team is working with a contractor on the project design and will coordinate with regulatory agencies to permit the project. We expect the repair effort to take at least six months to design, permit, construct, and restore the work area. We will share more details about the project schedule and expected impacts as they become available.

Public information and outreach

We will continue to share updates via email with the community. 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.