Hidden Lake sewer project will get environmental review

Published 7:33 am Friday, February 29, 2008

King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division is seeking public comment on environmental review documents for its Hidden Lake Pump Station Replacement and Sewer Improvement Project in northwest Shoreline.

King County is planning to replace the aging Hidden Lake Pump Station to provide better service to local residents and businesses. The project will also add an underground storage pipe in Boeing Creek Park to better handle the volume of sewage from the area, especially during storms when stormwater gets into pipes. In addition, the county will replace 12,000 feet of the Boeing Creek trunk sewer with larger pipes between the Hidden Lake and Richmond Beach pump stations.

The project will protect public health and the environment by preventing sewage backups into homes and overflows into Puget Sound.

Through an environmental review required by the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, King County determined this project will not have significant adverse environmental impacts. The county prepared an environmental checklist that addresses potential impacts, including earth, air, water, plants and animals, environmental health, noise, land use, recreation, light, glare and aesthetics.

On March 24, the county issued an environmental determination of non-significance, which is a formal announcement of results of the SEPA process. Property owners within 500 feet of the proposed project and others on the project mailing list will get a copy of the SEPA announcement in the mail.

The Hidden Lake Pump Station, located at the corner of 10th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Innis Arden Way, is nearly 40 years old. It has operating problems and is too small for the area it serves. That causes about three overflows a year into Puget Sound.

Also, some sections of the Boeing Creek Trunk sewer are in poor condition and too small, which caused several sewage backups into basements. The new underground storage pipe will temporarily store wastewater during heavy rainfall.

Construction is expected to run from early 2005 through 2007. King County will provide more detailed project information before construction begins.

King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 18 cities, 15 sewer districts and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. The regional public utility has been preventing water pollution for nearly 40 years.

The environmental documents are also available for review at the Shoreline Library, 345 N.E. 175th St. and are on the county’s Web site at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/projects/hiddenlake.htm. For a copy of the complete environmental checklist, contact Katherine McKee at 206-263-3197 or katherine.mckee@metrokc.gov.

Public comments on the determination of non-significance and environmental checklist are due by April 9, 2004.

For more information, contact Jennifer Kauffman at 206-263-6029 or at jennifer.kauffman@metrokc.gov. Project information is also available on the Web at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/projects/hiddenlake.htm.