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Environmental Health
Beach safety and sewage monitoring
With the funds we received from FPHS investment in Public Health, we hired a Beach Safety and Sewage Monitoring Lead. Our Lead assesses the public health impact of water contamination from bacteria, sewage releases, and toxic algae and decides the best course of action to protect people’s health, such as closing beaches. Having a staff member dedicated to this work enables faster and more comprehensive responses, which improves people’s access to beach closure and shellfish safety information, preventing illnesses. In 2024, PHSKC issued 60 beach closures due to high bacteria, issued closures for 6 lakes due to toxic algae growth, and advised for 56 sewage release incidents. Because of our increased capacity and expertise in this area, we aim to improve the beach safety and sewage release rules and processes in the long-term to better protect people’s health.
Spotlights
Equitable Wastewaters Futures
With the funds we received from FPHS investments in Public Health, we hired a program manager to tackle the infrastructure crisis of aging, failing urban septic systems in King County. Our Equitable Wastewater Futures Program manager leveraged a $2 million pilot investment from the King County Climate Equity Capital Pool to partner with local sewer districts to connect 26 homes on aging septic systems to sewer lines. Failing septic systems pose a serious threat to public health and the environment, and identifying equitable solutions to this complex issue is critical to protecting our communities in the face of a changing climate. Our program manager is working toward long term infrastructure strategies for the nearly 40,000 septic systems in urban King County, around 70% of which are past their intended lifespan and vulnerable to failure.