Complete! A clean-water project in the Rainier Beach area of south Seattle

Dedication ceremony held Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 Neighbors gather information about the project and King County programs. >> More photos. News Release, Oct. 26, 2005 -- King County celebrates final major clean-water project for ending overflows into Lake Washington

The three-and-a-half-year $77 million project will reduce sewer overflows in your neighborhood and Lake Washington.

The project is one of King County's largest combined sewer overflow control projects. Besides helping protect the water quality of Lake Washington, it provides many needed improvements to the Rainier Beach sewer system, much of which is more than 50 years old.

Before this project, 30 million to 60 million gallons of combined waste and stormwater overflowed to Lake Washington every year from King County combined sewer overlfows (CSOs). With the project complete, CSOs will be dramatically reduced, and our beaches will be cleaner and safer.

Construction in Rainier Beach occurred along South Henderson Street , 42nd Avenue South and South Norfolk Street between January 2002 and August 2005. The project included six tunnels.

Top right, King County Executive Ron Sims, meets with neighbors Jan and Hal Barker and Lucille and Ed Wypych as work progresses.

More photos and description of the completed project:

• How the new CSO project helps protect Lake Washington and Rainier Beach
• Inside the combined sewer overflow storage tunnel
• What is a CSO?
• Project Newsletter, October 2005, (PDF, 414 KB)

News about the Project

• Beacon Hill News and South District Journal, Nov. 16, 2005 (external link) -- Massive tunnels beneath the Rainier Valley bring the promise of clean water
• News Release, Oct. 26, 2005 -- King County celebrates final major clean-water project for ending overflows into Lake Washington
• Media Advisory, Oct. 25, 2005 -- King County to celebrate startup of new facilities to control overflows of untreated stormwater, sewage
• News Release, Oct. 17, 2003 -- Major King County sewer tunnel to reach daylight on south Beacon Hill
• This Week in DNRP, Sept. 8, 2003 -- Firefighters rescue two injured workers in simulated sewer tunnel fire
• News Release, Aug. 15, 2003 -- Tunnel rescue training Saturday at Rainier Beach sewer project
• This Week in DNRP, May 12, 2003 -- Huge tunneling machine to begin burrowing beneath Rainier Beach
• News Release, May 9, 2003 -- Major King County sewer tunneling to begin under south Beacon Hill
• News Release, Aug. 20, 2002 -- Major sewer construction project in Rainier Beach to begin in September
• Also refer to construction updates

Questions? Contact the project's construction hotline at 206-684-1251 (TTY 711) or e-mail us.

Henderson/M.L. King CSO Project
King County Wastewater Treatment Division
201 S. Jackson St., Suite 503
Seattle, WA 98104-3855

Updated: Nov. 28, 2005
 

Related Information:
CSO Control Program
Denny Way/Lake Union CSO Project
North Creek Storage Project