Residents urged to avoid Percival Creek after sewage spills there again

An estimated 26,000 gallons of sewage spilled from the Tumwater sewage system near Sommerset Hill Drive into Percival Creek due to an obstruction in the main sewer line on Thursday, Feb. 17.

The city of Tumwater officials say the spill was contained and the site was fully cleaned up on Thursday, but the Thurston County Health Department sent out an advisory late Friday telling residents to avoid contact with Percival Creek from Sommerset Hill Drive to Capitol Lake.

Such spills have been a recurring problem.

About 735 gallons of sewage streamed into the Tumwater stormwater system and then into Percival Creek on Dec. 27. The county also attributed that spill to a blockage in a sanitary sewer line on Somerset Hill Drive Southwest.

Two different sewage spills occurred in 2020. In February of that year, a tree fell and damaged a pedestrian bridge, a water pipe and a sewer pipe that cross the creek, resulting in a spill of about 30,000 gallons.

Then in May 2020, a leak began over Memorial Day Weekend from a sewer line that crosses the creek, but the leak wasn’t discovered until Tuesday morning. About 1,400 gallons of raw sewage per hour were discharged into the creek that time, officials said.

This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 1:29 PM.