After eight years of work to fix faulty septic systems leaking sewage into Quartermaster Harbor, Public Health officials announced Friday that 180 acres of the harbor have been cleaned and are open to commercial and recreational shellfish harvesting.
However, while the septic systems have been addressed and the harbor is no longer closed due to pollution, the entire harbor is still closed to shellfish harvesting due to biotoxins — paralytic and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. The toxins are naturally occurring and produced by certain algaes.
“We have two different things going on,” Washington State Department of Health’s Scott Berbells said. “We reopened about 200 acres, which is permanent, but we also have DSP (diarrhetic shellfish poisoning), which is keeping it closed. They are two different issues.”
The harbor has been permanently closed to shellfish harvesting for the past 20 years due to pollution from at least 150 homes with failing septic systems. The homes are located around the western shore of outer Quartermaster Harbor from Governor’s Row in Burton to Neill Point at the southern tip of Vashon.
King County and the state department of health began an effort to clean up the area in 2008 after state legislators passed a law the year prior requiring the 12 counties bordering Puget Sound to establish marine recovery areas — areas closed to shellfish harvesting due to water pollution — and begin taking measurable steps to address the areas within five years, a September 2014 Beachcomber article reports.
In King County, officials identified five marine recovery areas — all of them on Vashon, the article continues to indicate. The aforementioned area was the largest and is where the cleanup has been focused. One hundred and eighty acres between Shawnee and Camp Burton have been reopened, although a small swath of polluted beach remains at Governor’s Lane west of Camp Burton.
“The 180 acres isn’t continuous,” King County’s Terri Jenkins-McLean said.
She said that the efforts since 2008 — which include mostly grant-funded outreach and education that was initially met with resistence by some homeowners — have resulted in 56 of the 150 total systems being addressed. For the remaining 94 sites located in the Quartermaster Harbor project area, she said, DOH has not yet completed a shoreline assessment.
In a Friday statement from Public Health – Seattle &King County, Public Health officials said homeowners responded to the effort spurred by the 2007 law by complying with the regulations, “which led to the continued monitoring and ultimate approval by DOH to upgrade previously closed areas.”
The reopening is welcome news for the Puyallup tribe — which has treaty rights to the area.
“It is our hope that this success can lead to additional upgrades,” a Puyallup Tribe of Indians spokesperson said in a statement. “There are still large areas of Quartermaster Harbor that are prohibited. We are looking forward to the day when the entire harbor is clean enough for everyone to safely enjoy recreating and clam harvesting.”
Homeowners are urged to help the area remain clean by having septic systems inspected annually, reporting inspections to Public Health and making prompt repairs.
