Seattle Public Utilities

SPU owns two water collection facilities in the Cascade Mountains that supply drinking water used by 1.6 million people in Seattle and surrounding suburbs in 2023.{{cite web|title=Drinking water quality report|year=2023|publisher=Seattle Public Utilities|url=https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/SPU/Services/Water/Reports/Water%20Quality/2023WaterQualityAnnualReport.pdf|access-date=August 10, 2024}} The Cedar River watershed comprises 60 percent of the normal supply, and the Tolt River watershed supplies the remaining 40 percent (primarily north of Green Lake). The Cedar River supply is unfiltered, while the Tolt River is filtered and relied upon more heavily during dry years.{{cite news |last=Swanson |first=Conrad |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Seattle's water comes from 2 river systems. Which one do you drink from? |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/seattles-water-comes-from-two-river-systems-which-one-do-you-drink-from/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=July 25, 2024}}

From the city's founding through the 1880s, Seattle's water was provided by several private companies. In a July 8, 1889, election,Alan J. Stein, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2123 Seattle voters authorize Cedar River Water Supply system on July 8, 1889.], HistoryLink, January 1, 2000. Accessed online 6 December 2007. barely a month after the Great Seattle Fire (June 6, 1889) gave a dramatic illustration of the limitations of the city's water supply, Seattle's citizens voted 1,875 to 51 to acquire and operate their own water system. In accordance with this vote, the city Water Department acquired the Lake Union and Spring Hill plants for $400,000.{{Harvnb|Fleming|1919|pp=20–21}}

This was understood from the first to be only a temporary expedient, inadequate to the expected growth of the city. Attention soon focused on the Cedar River, an idea first proposed in the 1870s;{{Harvnb|Peterson|Davenport|1950|p=117}} the question was how to bring that water to the city. From 1892, the responsibility for doing so fell to newly hired City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson and his assistant George F. Cotterill. Besides the technical challenges, they and a series of Seattle mayors had to keep the citizenry on board to move forward with this expensive project through the Panic of 1893.

The Klondike Gold Rush put Seattle on a sound economic footing. The 1901 completion of Cedar River Supply System No. 1 (active from February 21, 1901) gave the city a steady supply of clean water with an intake {{convert|28|miles}} from the city itself; this was supplemented by Cedar River Supply System No. 2 in 1909. Together, these systems gave the city a supply of more than {{convert|60000000|USgal|kl|0}} of water a day.{{Harvnb|Fleming|1919|p=21}}

The original Cedar River pipeline was made of reinforced wooden pipe "big enough so a small boy could stand upright in it" and carried {{convert|22500000|USgal|kl|0}} of water a day. By 1950, three big mains carried up to {{convert|162000000|USgal|kl|0}} of water a day.

To guard against contamination at the source, the city purchased or otherwise gained control of {{convert|142|sqmi|km2}} of land and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Sanitation. The city also established an extensive system of reservoirs within city limits. By 1919, six reservoirs had a combined capacity of {{convert|270000000|USgal|kl|0}}.{{Harvnb|Fleming|1919|p=21}} says that Seattle "owns or controls" the entire drainage of the Cedar River In 1950, the city owned "about two-thirds" of the watershed, the federal government "about one-fourth"; the remainder, "around eleven square miles," was owned by private lumber companies.{{Harvnb|Peterson|Davenport|1950|p=118}}

Seattle has at times contracted to provide water for entities outside of city limits.{{Harvnb|Peterson|Davenport|1950|p=123}} By 2007, it provided water to 19 municipalities and water districts in King County.{{cite news |last=Holt |first=Gordy |date=August 22, 2007 |title=Short Trips: Feast your eyes on Seattle's water supply |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/short-trips-feast-your-eyes-on-seattle-s-water-1247226.php |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |accessdate=August 9, 2024}}

In recent decades, the Seattle Regional Water System has significantly improved conservation. 2008 usage was roughly equal to usage in 1960, despite roughly a 35% increase in population over that period.[http://www.seattle.gov/util/stellent/groups/public/@spu/@ssw/documents/webcontent/spu01_005056.pdf Drinking Water Quality Report 2008], Seattle Public Utilities. Accessed online 2009-06-05. From 1990 to 2012 total water usage declined 29%, despite a population increase of 17%."More than 100 Years of Water Stewardship: Seattle 2012 Drinking Water Quality Report", p. 3.

SPU operates two waste sorting facilities: the North Transfer Station in Wallingford and the South Transfer Station in South Park. Both facilities were opened in the 1960s and rebuilt in the 2010s to handle greater volumes and include environmentally friendly features.{{cite news |last=Beekman |first=Daniel |date=December 6, 2016 |title=Nicest dump around? New $108M transfer station in Wallingford even has a basketball court |page=A1 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/108-million-dump-opens-in-wallingford/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=February 12, 2020}} Garbage from Seattle is shipped out via train to the Columbia Ridge Landfill near Arlington, Oregon.{{Cite web|url=https://sccinsight.com/2017/03/27/council-mulls-terms-solid-waste-disposal-contract/|title=Council mulls over terms of solid waste disposal contract|last=Schofield|first=Kevin|date=2017-03-28|website=Seattle City Council Insight|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-24}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.wmnorthwest.com/landfill/columbiaridge.htm|title=Columbia Ridge Recycling and Landfill|last=|first=|date=|website=Waste Management Northwest|access-date=2020-04-24}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/methane-from-landfills-to-light-up-seattle/|title=Methane from landfills to light up Seattle|last=Heffter|first=Emily|date=2010-01-21|website=The Seattle Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-24}}

• Utilities of Seattle
• Government and politics of Seattle

{{reflist}}

• {{Citation

| last =Fleming

| first =S. E.

| year =1919

| title =Civics (supplement): Seattle King County

| place =Seattle

| publisher =Seattle Public Schools

}}. This is a public domain source, because it was published in the U.S. before 1923.

• {{Citation

| last =Peterson

| first =Lorin

| last2 =Davenport

| first2 =Noah C.

| year =1950

| title =Living in Seattle

| place =Seattle

| publisher =Seattle Public Schools

}}.

{{commons category|Seattle water supply system}}

• [https://www.seattle.gov/utilities Seattle Public Utilities website]
• [https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/services/water/water-quality/annual-report Seattle Water Quality Annual Reports]

{{Seattle Government}}

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Category:Government of Seattle

Category:Recycling industry

Category:Water companies of the United States

Category:Waste management companies of the United States

Category:Public utilities of the United States

Category:American companies established in 1997

Category:Public utilities established in 1997

Category:1997 establishments in Washington (state)