PORT ANGELES — Stay out of Port Angeles Harbor for the next week, Clallam County public health officials advised today after heavy rainfall on Sunday pushed 7 million gallons of diluted sewage into the water.
The advisory will remain in effect until next Monday, March 23.
The environmental health section of county Health and Human Services said that contact with fecal-contaminated water can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections and other illnesses.
The overflow contained heavily diluted raw sewage but was mostly rainwater, city Engineer Mike Puntenney said Monday.
“The system reacted as anticipated,” he said.
Two of the city’s four combined sewer overflow outfalls through which the sewage coursed Sunday are at Hollywood Beach.
Some of the city’s drain lids were vibrating in place as water was trying to blow out the top, while the gushing water lifted other lids completely out of place in lower lying areas such as Marine Drive, Puntenney said.
The discharges from manholes were reported to the state Department of Ecology.
Water flowed over East Ahlvers Road and Canyon Edge Drive “in the usual spots,” Puntenney said.
The city is under an 2006 agreed order with Ecology to reduce the number of overflows from city sewers into the harbor during major rainstorms.
The $15 million Phase 2 portion of the project began in late February and is scheduled to be completed late next year.
Crews with subcontractor Strider Construction have been digging trenches under Marine Drive to continue the line of conduits and pipes that will connect with the eastern portion of the downtown project.
Port Townsend
It rained heavily in Port Townsend, too, but there were no sewage overflows, said John Merchant, public works operations manager.
The city’s trunk line was upgraded to better handle the flows, he added.
“Periodically, we might have [an overflow] because of a blockage, but right now, with the rain, we’ve been doing pretty good.
“Our flows almost tripled, but we were able to handle it.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
