This nasty little tidbit of information comes to us from reader Kris, who received the following letter:
Raw Sewage Dump:
The consensus of Seattle Public Utilities, the Fire Department and the Seattle Public Utilities Operations Response Center, is that likely an RV purposely emptied their toilet holding tank onto our street. What we have smelled and perhaps seen along the east side of the street is raw sewage. It appears to start around 46th and Eastern and continues east on 50th. It was dumped here early Wednesday afternoon. The worst of it on our streets appears to be at the opening to the alley between Eastern and 1st near 46th.
Resolution: After initially being told to ‘wait for it to rain’ the Seattle DOT committed to clean our street and 50th sometime in the next couple of days.
Contact Information:
We are speculating that this is the work of someone living in their RV. If you have seen anything or anyone that you think may have been involved, I would strongly suggest you call the Seattle North Police Precinct at 206.625.5011. The cost of this clean up is high and the act of this type of dumping is illegal, besides the implications of our exposure to raw sewage.
Kris adds, “I’m so thankful they sent it out. It’s crazy, because on Thursday, I noticed my car tired stunk like human urine. I thought someone peed on my tires, but instead I find out something far worse happened.”
Please contact SPD above if you’ve seen any activity related to this incident.
Thanks for the tip, Kris!
I smelled the mystery smell as well – I thought there might have been a sewage leak somewhere. Thanks so much to a vigilant neighbor for following up with the City!
For reports this serious, please — it’s really important to get the details right.
I live in this part of Wallingford, and have seen a few SUV-type vehics around that might have residents within (but haven’t seen any dumping) over the past few months.
But no way I could help pin down a perp with the description: “It appears to start around 46th and Eastern and continues east on 50th.” That would be nigh on impossible, unless the sewage ran uphill for more than a block and then took a hard right. In other words… that didn’t happen. What did?
Still waiting for DOT. Really hoping they will clean up our street.
Sally- I’m near the epicenter of the event. My sense is that either they dumped it near the alley north of 46th on Eastern and then other drivers went through it and spread it north or their tank started leaking and spread the sewage along the entire street. I’d actually feel better if it were the latter – the idea of someone pumping raw sewage out on the street intentionally is pretty disgusting.
So sorry to hear that, Kris! Fingers crossed for a quick clean up.
I used to see dumping from RVs on the roads down closer to Gasworks, but they always did it in the grass and usually it was put in plastic bags before being dumped (note to runners: avoid tied off plastic bags near the Burke Gilman trail). I don’t see that anymore because I don’t work down there now, but I’m sure it still happens.
I think I “stumbled upon” the offending matter within an hour of the event at 3PM- at first I was excited as I assumed a neighbor had hired ponies or horses for a party – but a quick look revealed the obvious…human poop!! I only saw one 50-60′ long stretch of it starting at the house right next to ours and stretching for 3-4 houses. I didn’t think to see if it started elsewhere – near the alley for example.
having dumped RVs, it was clearly this. the offending matter was in a straight line as though the vehicle was being driven slowly as it dumped. and it clearly started at one spot and then stopped/ran out. my impression and knowledge of these things made it obvious (to me) that it was intentional. there could have been a cap sprung loose, but I didn’t see such a cap at either end of the trail. however, if there was definitive POOP (Poop Out Of Place!) near the alley then perhaps the cap did spring loose on those huge bumps and the sewage leaked, stopped, then leaked again. doubtful…but maybe? these things don’t have automatic valves – they’re opened mechanically. so there’s no opening it as you’re driving, then closing it, then opening it, etc. and it’s not like they get clogged up either…big pipes with gravity to push it all out.
did anyone actually see more of the POOP near the alley? with your own eyes…no heresy please. i’m a bit curious if there really were two or more spots.
bottom line….it was pretty gross and I’m extremely tolerant person.
also, to my neighbors…it wasn’t my little red westfalia with the eat more kale sticker…my van doesn’t have a black water tank. 🙂
Thank you Chris! Unfortunately, DOT hasn’t showed up yet. Hi Harley! We love your van and your Kale sticker. We didn’t see any excrement right in front of our house, but the tires of our car were definitely soaked in urine, they reeked. I am almost afraid to rake up our leaves in front, out of fear of what might be under them.
And to think I thought raccoon poop was bad!
Hi Neighbors on Eastern. Here is DOT’s information to contact them: (206) 684-ROAD (7623) or send an email to [email protected].
Also, this is good to know: If you have a street maintenance emergency, please contact SDOT’s Charles St Dispatch Center, 24-hrs, 7 days a week, at 206-386-1218.
I just called and they said a crew chief will look at the request on Monday morning since Friday was a holiday. The rain has washed away a lot but I still saw lumps of poop and toilet paper stuck to the ground out there so it would be great if they actually did come and clean it out.
The SPU “24 Hour Spill Response” Van is here now and they have blocked off the alley. There’s a woman from the City out raking leaves out of the gutter.
This is one of the reasons why we love living in Wallingford, we have the BEST neighbors! Thank you so much for the information and updates! I really hope they make it down the street toward our house.
YES! The clean up crew is here! HURRAH!!! Thank you everyone who contacted them.
I talked to the woman in charge and who said they were from Sewers and Drains, not DOT, so they deserve the credit for a very unpleasant piece of work, done on a Sunday at that. Thank you!! As bad as this was, neighbors were awesome rallying around to fix it.
50′ to 60′ long? What in the world did they have to eat?