As children played in the sand and parents lounged at Marina Park, it was apparent the lake closure could not ruin their Friday afternoon.
But some are concerned how the abrupt shutdown may impact this weekend, which is expected to be one of the hottest this year.
King County and Seattle announced Friday the closure of Kirkland’s Marina Park beach due to an estimated 68,000 gallons of wastewater that discharged into Lake Washington on Thursday.
“It’s unfortunate,” said park-goer Michael Kowdley, who heard other parents turn down their kids request to swim. “I’d like to believe [the authorities] are careful but accidents happen.”
The water-side of the beach will be closed until further notice, and may only reopen once Public Health deems water quality has been rid of fecal coliform at toxic levels.
“Our fingers are crossed that we can reopen the beach on Saturday,” said Annie Kolb-Nelson, a media relations specialist for the Wastewater Treatment Division of King County. “We really want that. We know there will be such nice weather and all the folks in Kirkland want that as well.”
But Kolb-Nelson said on Thursday the treatment division expects elevated levels on Friday.
According to a city news release, the city’s boat launch at Marina Park is open, however, park visitors are encouraged to obey the park’s closure signs and not enter the water.
King County will have to test the water for fecal coliform until they receive two consecutive clean samples.
Park-goer Mike Shea expects the test results could be longer than expected and hopes the closure will not impact Mother’s Day weekend.
Surrounding business owners agree that if the lake stays closed throughout the entire weekend commerce will take a hit from the presumed hike they were hoping to see from the good weather.
Kolb-Nelson said the first round of testing was Thursday afternoon, to which the lab results would be delivered Friday afternoon. However, she said the Wastewater Treatment Division is trying to help expedite the 24-hour lab tests as fast as possible.
Another round of testing will commence Friday afternoon, and if both Thursday’s and Friday’s lab results show less than 200 colony forming units (cfu) per liter the beach could reopen as soon as Saturday afternoon.
Wastewater discharged for about an hour through an emergency outfall into Lake Washington near Marina Park on Thursday and crews with King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division began working to clean up the overflow from the Kirkland Pump Station at around noon.
The overflow was caused by the failure of a transmitter to signal two of the station’s pumps to begin operating. A third pump, that normally engages when water levels rise, experienced a clutch failure.
“The purpose of the emergency outfall is to have a way to get the wastewater away from homes and businesses,” said King County Media Relations Coordinator Doug Williams. “That would be significantly more serious than going into Lake Washington.”
The overflow was discovered during daily monitoring and maintenance of the station, and employees plan to follow up with an investigation.
Crews also plan to clean up trash and visible material.
But workers at the pump station have since restored normal operation.
“This is not a common occurrence,” said Williams. “But machines break down and there can be failures.”
City spokeswoman Marie Stake said the last time the Kirkland Pump Station discharged wastewater into the lake was on July 14, 2011.
“It occurred on a Friday, which was the first day Kirkland Uncorked was happened in town,” she said. “But [the lake] was able to open back up on Saturday.”
The Kirkland Pump Station has been operating for more than 40 years.
In 2013, King County will invest $2 million in a project to increase the station’s pumping capacity, replace aging equipment, and install new, larger diameter pipes.
Assistant regional editor Matt Phelps contributed to this report.
