On December 16, 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed by Congress. This landmark federal legislation has been a key driving force safeguarding the quality of tap water in the United States for the past 50 years. Every time you turn on your tap and drink fresh, delicious water,… [ Keep reading ]
Emergency water outages happen. They usually occur when a water main suddenly breaks or is discovered to be leaking badly. To repair the City’s broken pipe and prevent flooding, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) water crews must shut off water immediately to customers in the affected area. Thankfully, emergency water outages… [ Keep reading ]
The City of Seattle filed documents on April 8 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to formally begin relicensing the South Fork Tolt Hydroelectric Project. These documents are called the Notice of Intent (NOI) and Pre-Application Document (PAD). Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) are collaborating on… [ Keep reading ]
1.5 Million Customers No Longer Asked to Use Less Water In 48 hours, at the height of last week’s atmospheric river, a whopping 4.4 billion gallons of water dumped over Seattle’s regional drinking water reservoirs in the Cascade Mountains. “That’s a lot of water,” said Julie Crittenden, Water Planning and… [ Keep reading ]
The mountain watersheds feeding Seattle’s regional water supply reservoirs received rain over the weekend, which is good news. The recent rainfall continues to help Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) replenish the drinking water supply for its 1.5 million customers. The combined total storage in our reservoirs is at 78 percent of… [ Keep reading ]
Seattle’s regional water supply conditions have improved in the past 30 days and that’s good news for the water planners at Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). “While we still need customers to voluntarily reduce their water use, our mountain reservoirs are beginning to slowly refill and that helps me sleep better… [ Keep reading ]
On September 21 Seattle Public Utilities began asking its 1.5 million customers to voluntarily reduce their water use to help stretch the region’s water supply. At that time, the Seattle region was using about 149 million gallons of water per day (mgd). Fast forward to today, our average consumption is… [ Keep reading ]
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license for the City’s South Fork Tolt Hydroelectric Project is up for renewal, and Seattle City Light is partnering with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) in this multi-year relicensing project. The hydroelectric facility was built in 1995 to generate power from the South Fork Tolt… [ Keep reading ]
In this week’s update on Seattle’s regional water supply, we hear from five customers who share some of the measures they are taking at home to save water. Watch the video for 60 seconds of water-saving inspiration. Customers in Seattle’s Chinese community share ways they are saving water. We certainly… [ Keep reading ]
Each Gallon Saved Keeps More Water in Our Rivers and Lakes for Fish and Wildlife Did you know that conserving water for people also conserves water for fish? Each fall, adult salmon and steelhead return from the ocean to freshwater rivers to spawn and lay eggs that will become the… [ Keep reading ]
