Two spills discharge sewage into Dyes Inlet, Oyster Bay

Josh Farley, Kitsap Sun
·2 min read

CHICO — Thousands of gallons of sewage seeped into local Puget Sound waters this week from two different area sewer systems.

On Thursday, a ruptured force main running under Chico Way NW near Silverdale spewed about 7,700 gallons into the area. Less than 300 gallons made it to Dyes Inlet, according to county public works officials. The roadway, near the intersection of Holly Park Drive NW, was shut down for much of the day while Kitsap County Public Works crews worked to replace the broken 10-inch pipe.

Crews were able to contain the spill in the morning by using trucks to capture and haul away sewage flowing at the source of the main break, according to Stella V. Vakarcs, the sewer utility division manager for Kitsap County Public Works.

"We have it all contained now," she said.

Vakarcs said crews suspect the ductile iron pipe, likely installed almost 50 years ago, had some corrosion. On Wednesday, crews cleaned the line with a bullet-shaped device known as a "pig" that scrapes the inside walls. It's likely the procedure led to the break where the pipe was corroded, she said.

A spill Wednesday was caused by a sewer pipe left uncapped during a Bremerton project to replace beach main lines.
A spill Wednesday was caused by a sewer pipe left uncapped during a Bremerton project to replace beach main lines.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Bremerton Public Works said roughly 3,600 gallons of sewage flowed into Oyster Bay. The Kitsap Public Health District sent out an advisory warning local residents to avoid contact with Oyster and Ostrich bays.

The discharge occurred, somewhat ironically, as part of a project that has removed a problematic half-century-old sewer line from the Oyster Bay beaches between Madrona Point Drive and Kitsap Way. A $7.5 million project begun in 2021 has replaced the pipe with grinder pumps for area shoreline residents, along with a new mainline on Shorewood Drive and Kitsap Way.

More: Sewer replacement one of multiple projects that will affect travel in Bremerton this summer

Crews are currently disconnecting the lateral sewer pipes from the beach main, according to Ned Lever, managing engineer for Bremerton Public Works. In the process of doing so, a lateral cap was removed to give crews access to run a camera down the beach main to inspect it. But when it came time to flush the beach main with fresh water, the cap hadn't been replaced and caused the discharge of sewage, which flowed onto the beach, Lever said.

This story has been updated to include the corrected amount of sewer discharge into Dyes Inlet from the spill on Thursday. 

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Two spills discharge sewage into Dyes Inlet, Oyster Bay