Find Posts By Topic

Prepare for this Season’s High Tides

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) plans for cold and wet weather. This preparation is critical to ensuring that your drainage, wastewater, drinking water, and solid waste services are sustained through inclement weather or, if they can’t be, that you know what to do. For more information about preparing for wet and… [ Keep reading ]

Working with Recology to Handle Special Solid Waste Customer Requests After Cyber Incident

On November 2, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) was notified by its solid waste contractor, Recology, about a cyber security incident it experienced involving its routing and customer information system. SPU is working closely with Seattle IT and Recology to understand the extent of the incident and whether any customer information… [ Keep reading ]

Winter Holiday Waste Collection Schedule for 2023 

With the holiday season just around the corner, we wanted to share an important reminder to customers about our services. Garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste will not be collected on the following upcoming holidays : On those days, and for the remainder of the week, service will be delayed one day…. [ Keep reading ]

United States Environmental Protection Agency Awards $4 Million to City of Seattle for Solid Waste Infrastructure, Advancing Environmental Sustainability Efforts  

Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $4,000,000 grant to the City of Seattle for a Solid Waste Infrastructure project. Funding for the grant comes from the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant program, authorized by the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act and funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law… [ Keep reading ]

2023 Holiday Tips from SPU

Pumpkin Spice Lattes, step aside. Late November and December usher in all kinds of other seasonal drinks and foods (Latkes! Tamales! Lumpia! Turkey!) and treasured opportunities to gather with friends and family. As your public utility, we’re hoping you’ll make water and waste stewardship part of your 2023 year-end celebrations…. [ Keep reading ]

Seattle-Area Sees 44-Million-Gallon-Per-Day Drop in Water Usage – Inching Closer to The Regional Goal

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 ]

Relicensing Work Begins on South Fork Tolt Hydroelectric Project

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 ]

Customers Share Water-Saving Tips, Plus Alex Chen Talks Water Supply and Climate Change

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 ]

What to Do with All Those Raked Leaves

Fall is here, and that means beautiful, brilliant shades of red, orange, yellow, and green are blanketing yards, sidewalks, and streets. While lovely to look at, the leaves can pose problems. While it’s been a relatively dry fall, we know the regular rains will return. The falling leaves, paired with… [ Keep reading ]

Water for People and Fish

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 ]