On March 5, 2000, Jerry and Sally Sinnema discover a foul odor and foamy discoloration in a stream on their Snoqualmie Valley dairy farm near Ames Lake Creek in central King County. They trace the contamination to an avalanche of manure and other waste, measuring at least 100 cubic yards (equaling 20 dump truck loads), which had slid from an illegal hilltop dump site into the stream.
Sally Sinnema was concerned that her 220 head of dairy cattle could not use the contaminated stream. "What they'd basically be drinking is manure," she explained. The King County Department of Natural Resources launched an investigation. A representative commented, "It's quite clear that it's a severe violation" of water quality and waste management codes, and said that authorities were "moving extremely quickly on this."
Two days later the King County Department of Ecology increased the estimate of the size of the manure heap from 100 to 1,000 cubic yards. The manure belonged to Pat Hammon and her husband Gary, owners of Misty Mountain Farm. The 20-acre farm keeps around 10 horses. Pat Harmon told reporters she didn't know it was wrong to store manure on a slope. She read about the mishap in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
State and county officials posted warning signs around the area and in the neighborhood, took samples from the stream, and prepared to quickly address the problem.
