From 1901 until 1960, the City of Seattle built 11 large open distribution drinking water
reservoirs. These reservoirs range in size from 7.5 to 68 million gallons. In 1995, Seattle
Public Utilities (SPU) submitted a covering plan to the Washington State Department of
Health (WDOH) that was approved. Two of the reservoirs have been replaced with new
concrete reservoirs and a third covered with a floating membrane cover. The remaining 8
reservoirs will be covered - primarily with floating covers - over the next 16 years. In the
meantime, SPU administers a comprehensive open reservoir protection program
approved by WDOH. Operation and maintenance staff have addressed a range of
operational, trespass, animal and in-reservoir water quality issues. Special plans were put
in place during the 1990 Goodwill Games, the 1993 Asia-Pacific Economic Conference,
and the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings.
This paper presents SPU's open reservoir protection program, which includes
security, controlling birds and airborne contaminants, reservoir cleaning, reservoir outlet
disinfection, exclusion of surface water and emergency response. The protection
program has undergone a major change over the last 5 years, including transition to a
team-based management approach and increasing pressure from neighborhood groups
and advocates of other uses of these sites (such as parks and telecommunications
transmission towers). Program changes are described and key water quality and
related performance measures are provided. Special provisions during unusual events
(Goodwill Games, APEC, and WTO) are also described.
Includes figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 350 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 13 |
| Published : | 06/16/2002 |
