The Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are jointly issuing penalties to Seattle and King County for violating conditions of the federal consent decrees and state water quality permits that regulate combined sewer overflows from the sanitary sewer system in the Seattle area.
The penalties are for violations that occurred between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024. Seattle’s penalty is a total of $35,000 for sanitary sewer overflow events and a dry weather overflow from portions of city’s sewer system. King County’s penalty totals $52,500 for issues at its wet weather treatment stations that treat combined sewer overflow discharges, a sewer overflow from its sewer system, and other compliance issues.
Untreated or insufficiently treated discharges of sewage contain bacteria and other pollutants that can make conditions unsafe for people and animals. Combined sewers carry both stormwater and sewage. The city and county own and operate different parts of the combined sewer infrastructure within Seattle city limits.
Combined sewers were originally built with overflow points called outfalls, which were intended to discharge during large storms. State and federal law requires communities to minimize untreated sewage reaching rivers, lakes, and Puget Sound by eliminating these overflows except in extreme weather circumstances.
The city and county are continuing their work to improve water quality and reduce combined sewer overflows through major infrastructure investments and adjusting maintenance when issues are identified.
Ecology and EPA will each receive half of the penalty payments. Water quality penalty payments to Ecology are placed into the state’s Coastal Protection Fund, which provides grants to public agencies and Tribes for water quality restoration projects.
Combined sewer overflow consent decrees
These penalties are required under separate legal agreements called consent decrees that Ecology and EPA negotiated with the City of Seattle and King County in 2013 to settle past violations related to combined sewer overflow discharges. The consent decrees reinforce requirements for the city and county to comply with the state’s combined sewer overflow regulations. Each consent decree identifies specific fines for certain types of unpermitted discharges.
Recently Ecology and EPA agreed to modify these agreements to give Seattle and King County more time to develop larger projects that are more resilient to climate change. These modifications shifted the priority of projects to ensure those in the Lower Duwamish area are completed first. The modifications extend the date to control all outfalls to 2037 from the original 2030. The modifications also provide greater flexibility for the County and City to adapt their plans as new information becomes available or new opportunities for collaboration arise.
The modified consent decrees went into effect earlier this year.