Seattle OKs $5.4 Million to Help Manage Storm Water

Though critics question whether it will actually improve water quality, the city of Seattle will spend $5.4 million to dig a grass drainage ditch to filter storm water flowing into South Lake Union, the City Council decided Monday.

According to the Seattle Times, while the ditch will be built along Yale Avenue North and Pontius Avenue North in the South Lake Union neighborhood, the council voted to call the project the Capitol Hill Water Quality Improvement Project.

The four-block swale is intended to treat runoff from both Capitol Hill and First Hill by slowing the water so dirt can settle out before reaching the lake. Other swales have been constructed in the High Point, Broadview and Pinehurst neighborhoods.

"Sediment is one of the major pollutants; this takes care of half of the sediment that Seattle dumps in," said Councilman Richard Conlin, who chairs the council's Utilities Committee. "That's very, very clearly a benefit."

According to Seattle Public Utilities, the alternative would be to tear up recently renovated Cascade Park and build a water-treatment vault.

The swale also is to provide new green space, but it will eliminate some parking spaces along the streets. Some members of St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral opposed the project because it would reduce parking for parishioners.

McIver argued that there is no evidence that sediment is a major cause of lake pollution. "Since we don't know how much it will improve water quality, why would we spend that much money on an experiment?" he said.

Opponents also pointed out that the swale won't affect outflow from Swedish Medical Center, which was cited last year for dumping raw sewage into the storm water drainage system. The hospital will connect to the storm water system below the swale.

Source: ST