The proposal to transfer the city’s water and sewer utilities to the Kitsap Public Utility District could slash monthly water bills by as much as half.

More on that HERE.

The move would also likely mean the city would let go several – possibly even 21 – employees who work directly and indirectly with utilities.

Below is a breakdown of the full-time employee (FTE) equivalents working in city departments. For example, a .25 FTE is equal to a quarter-time employee, or a quarter of one employee’s work time.

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City Council members on Monday questioned whether the city’s response to the Eagle Harbor sewer leak was too slow and not comprehensive enough to ensure the health and safety of people and the environment.

Councilwoman Kim Brackett, who visited the leak site near the Winslow ferry terminal shortly after it was identified on Saturday, was unimpressed with the city’s efforts to protect the marine ecosystem and clean the beach of solid waste.

“This is a very significant environmental issue for the health of Puget Sound,” she said during a council Public Works Committee meeting. “Was there an effort to capture (the waste) and pickup the tissue paper sitting on the beach? I was a little stunned to not see anybody there to clean it up.”

The corroded, 32-year-old pipe blamed for the leak, which spilled an estimated 140,000 gallons of sewage into the harbor, was repaired Tuesday morning. Public works crews had installed a temporary band on the pipe on Sunday, after about 70,000 gallons of solid and liquid waste flowed freely into the harbor. The band halted the flow of solids but not liquid effluent, allowing an additional 70,000 gallons of sewer water to escape.

Assistant Public Works Director Lance Newkirk said high tides delayed repair work until early Tuesday morning, when an extremely low tide was expected.

Responding to Brackett, Newkirk declined to assess the city’s response to the spill.

“I’m not prepared to comment on how well – or not well – we did,” he said.

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City public work crews stopped the three-day flow of raw sewage into Eagle Harbor early Tuesday morning.

Crews spent about 90 minutes installing a rubberized metal collar around a corroded section that began leaking on Saturday. The repair was completed during low tide at approximately 6:30 a.m. The pipe was tested and the sewer system was brought back to normal functioning by 7 a.m.

“We were fortunate,” said Lance Newkirk, assistant director of the city’s public works department. “We had a backup strategy with a three-hour repair cycle. But the (faster) strategy is the one that worked.”

Newkirk said additional cracking or other damage would have required crews to replace a section of the pipe. Crews had waited until Tuesday morning because a extreme low tide was predicted, and would have allowed time for the more complex fix.

The pipe, which runs under the beach about a quarter mile east of the Winslow ferry terminal, is estimated to have released 140,000 gallons of sewage. It carries most of the Winslow area’s sewage to the downtown treatment plant on Hawley Way.

Health officials issued a no-contact advisory for all of the harbor and the seven miles of shoreline between Yeomalt Point and Rockaway Beach. Residents are asked to not touch the water or low tide areas for 10 days.

Over 105,000 gallons of raw sewage has spilled into Eagle Harbor from a corroded pipe near the Winslow ferry terminal.

A total of 140,000 gallons is expected to flow into the harbor before work crews can fix the leak, said Lance Newkirk, assistant director of the city’s public works department.

Health officials issued a no-contact advisory for all of the harbor and the seven miles of shoreline between Yeomalt Point and Rockaway Beach on the island’s east side. Residents are asked to not touch the water or low tide areas for 10 days.

“We haven’t seen a big (pipe) break like this in a while,” said Kitsap County Health District water quality specialist Jim Zimny.

The pipe carries much of the Winslow area’s sewage to the treatment plant on Hawley Way.

High tides are expected to delay a full repair until Tuesday. The beach surrounding the immediate spill area has been cordoned off and a temporary metal band was installed over the pipe’s ruptured areas.

“It’s like a Band-Aid that’s preventing the solid content from going into the bay,” Newkirk said. “We’re now at a stable point and are just waiting for a favorable tide to make the permanent fix.”

The city is employing six pump trucks at various locations north and east of Winslow to draw out sewer water before it reaches the damaged area.

The pipe is the main line carrying sewage from the Winslow area west of Highway 305 and south of Murden Cove. About three-fifths of the Winslow sewer plant’s liquid effluent flows through the pipe, Newkirk said.

City officials are asking residents to curb their water and sewer usage until Tuesday afternoon.

“We want to reduce the flow, so any delay in water usage – from washing clothes to taking showers – will help,” Newkirk said.

Sewage was flowing freely from the rusty pipe into a murky trench on Monday morning. Toilet paper and other solids were scattered nearby.

“It was a lot more pungent on Saturday,” said John Anderson, whose Irene Place home sits directly in front of the ruptured pipe. “And it was bubbling pretty dramatically through the tide.”

Corrosion on the 32-year-old pipe’s is blamed for the leak.

“We didn’t see any external factors,” Newkirk said. “It really was the pipe’s age.”

The leak was reported to the city at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Tides delayed the city’s response until 5 a.m. on Sunday. Unexpected additional corroded areas also complicated the repair efforts.

Health officials are concerned that warm weather and clear skies may draw many people to the contaminated beaches and water.

“The timings bad,” Zimny said. “If this was in winter, less people would be attracted to the beach.”

Sunlight may help “disinfect” the contaminated water by killing bacteria in a matter of hours. However, the continued sewer flow means surrounding waters will remain a health risk, Zimny said.

While ruptures like the one in Eagle Harbor are rare, larger amounts of sewage have poured into Kitsap waters in recent years. Power outages during winter storms in 2007 caused millions of gallons of effluent to seep from several sewer treatment plants, Zimny said.

The city’s got a tough choice on its hands.

By order of the state, the city must invest millions of dollars to redirect a Winslow sewer outfall away from Wing Point’s shellfish beds or pay tens of thousands a year in compensation.

City engineers are scrambling. The City Council will soon be debating. But either way, city coffers will be draining.

See my story below.

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