Fans and neighbors of Gas Works Park and will want to be aware of drilling that’s going to start in part of the park and parking lot next week:
Portions of Seattle’s Gas Works Park and parking lot will be closed to the public for several weeks starting Sept. 27, as Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) continues its ongoing investigation and evaluation of sediments offshore of the park.
The environmental testing—involving heavy equipment drilling of groundwater monitoring wells—is scheduled to take place weekdays during daylight hours. It will be noisy at times, and Puget Sound Energy’s contractor will monitor sound levels. There will be vehicles entering and leaving the park during the testing.
Gas Works Park, including the snack bar and restrooms, will remain open during the work, but park visitors will be restricted from areas where drilling activities are taking place and areas where equipment is stored.
The City of Seattle (under the lead of SPU) and Puget Sound Energy are studying the park and the adjoining lake bottom to gather information needed to clean up contamination left in Lake Union’s sediments by the manufactured gas plant and other industrial facilities that once operated at the site. The investigation and subsequent cleanup of contaminated offshore sediments is expected to take several years.
More information about this cleanup is available on the Washington State Department of Ecology’s website.
