State tells city to clean lagoon
Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 18, 2006
SNOHOMISH – State regulators want the city to clean up a lagoon near the city’s sewer treatment plant that could damage the environment.
The 25-acre lagoon near the Snohomish River has residuals from the plant, which could have a high level of nitrogen, Marietta Sharp, an environmental scientist of the state Department of Ecology, said Monday.
“It has a potential to harm the environment,” Sharp said.
Last year, the state ordered the city to clean up the lagoon by Oct. 1, but the city didn’t get the work done, Sharp said.
The department is considering further action, which could include a fine for the city, Sharp said.
Snohomish City Manager Larry Bauman said the city is willing to work with the Department of Ecology to solve the issue. Next year, it plans to plant grass seeds at the lagoon to reproduce nutrients in the soil, Bauman said.
“We are going to close it down eventually,” he said.
The lagoon near the Snohomish River hasn’t been used since the city upgraded the sewer plant in the late 1990s.
The site has other issues.
At an adjacent 1-acre parcel, the city has kept dirt and rocks from street sweeping and storm water, officials said.
“It shouldn’t have been dumped there in the first place,” Sharp said.
The city also discovered diesel fuel three feet under the ground at the 1-acre site in September, Bauman said.
“We don’t know where it came from,” he said.
The Election Day floods destroyed a dike, which had separated the sewer treatment plant from nearby treatment lagoons. The city is asking the federal government for about $953,000 to rebuild the dike.
The city conducted a water test in the lagoon after the floods, Bauman said. Floodwaters didn’t seem to have reached the diesel fuel or have washed the tainted dirt and rocks into the water, Bauman said.
State and city officials have yet to find out how long and how much money it will take to clean up and shut down the old lagoon.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
