Power outage causes West Seattle pump station overflow, park closures

Lincoln Park and Cove beaches in West Seattle were closed Tuesday after a power outage caused the Barton Pump Station to overflow, according to King County.

Lightning and heavy rain across the Puget Sound region Monday night caused thousands of people to lose electricity in South Seattle, according to a news release. The pump station, at 8617 Fauntleroy Way Southwest, is next to a ferry landing and the two beaches.

The pump station, which has a capacity to handle more than 30 million gallons per day, sends wastewater to the county’s regional treatment plant at Discovery Park.

The pump station was reset within minutes of the overflow and is now operating normally, but King County crews placed closure signs at the beaches “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a news release.

Public Health — Seattle & King County requires that the water tests come back with “good quality” on at least three consecutive days before the beaches will reopen, a Wastewater Treatment Division spokesperson said.

King County reported the overflow to health and regulatory agencies.

County crews were still working to determine how much wastewater spilled into the Puget Sound, the spokesperson said.