Seattle plans $600 million wastewater overflow project

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Seattle utility unveiled a $600 million plan on Friday to stop millions of gallons of untreated wastewater and polluted runoff from flowing into the area's creeks, lakes, the Duwamish river and the Puget Sound. The plan would involve construction of a 2.7-mile, $374-million combined sewer overflow storage system along the north side of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, just miles from an unrelated headline-grabbing $3.1 billion Seattle roadway overhaul that has been fraught with delays. "The plan would also keep millions of gallons of storm runoff out of public waterways, reducing threats to human and aquatic health and the region's quality of life," Seattle Public Utilities spokesman Andy Ryan said in a statement. The 15-year plan aims to fulfill promises Seattle made in a 2013 consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state's Department of Ecology to reduce sewer overflows to comply with state and federal law. The Seattle City Council will consider the proposal starting next week. Canal construction could begin in 2018. About one third of soggy Seattle's rainwater drains through dedicated storm sewer pipes, which send about 13 billion gallons of runoff annually into creeks, lakes, and the Puget Sound in and around the city. The other two-thirds of the city is served by a combined sewer system that transports drainage runoff as well as sewage to regional wastewater treatment plants owned and operated by King County. During heavy rainfall, the overwhelmed combined sewer system sends untreated wastewater with a mixture of sewage and stormwater into area waterways, not into streets, homes and businesses. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Sandra Maler)