The damaged West Point Treatment Plant in Seattle is dumping 50 million gallons of raw wastewater including sewage into Puget Sound (inlet of the Pacific Ocean) every day, according to an article published in The Seattle Times on the 15th of February.

The West Point Treatment Plant is at half capacity and can’t manage heavy rain. The untreated effluent, about 90 percent storm water and 10 percent raw sewage, is being dumped from an emergency outfall pipe a few hundred feet offshore in water about 50 feet deep at West Point, said Doug Williams, King County spokesman.

The county is also diverting about 150 million gallons per day of effluent to other treatment plants within the system, depending on their capacity during the wet weather, Williams said.

The West Point plant has been running at half capacity since the 9th of February after a pump failed, causing some portions of the plant to flood and damage equipment. The county is in violation of its permits as it dumps the untreated sewage, exposing the county to monetary fines. It has notified regulatory agencies and tribes with treaty fishing rights in the area of the situation.

Work is under way to clean and repair the plant and determine why the pump failed on the 9th of February.