The Ship Canal Water Quality Project is working hard to significantly improve the health and cleanliness of our public waterways. Seattle Public Utilities are building a extended storage tank, shaped like a tunnel, beneath Ballard/Fremont/Wallingford and along the Ship Canal shoreline. This storage tank will hold overflow water from sewers and storm run-off during heavy rains and snow melts – and keep this polluted water from entering Lake Union or the Ship Canal.
The 2.7 mile long, 18-foot 10-inch diameter storage tunnel will be dug by a Tunnel Boring Machine that the construction team have decided deserves a name! The TBM will keep more than 75 million gallons of sewage and polluted stormwater from entering our public waterways each year, and will be a serious step toward creating a healthier eco-system in our region.
Can you help choose a name for this vital piece of equipment? This mechanical marvel will work to improve public health, and our environment, and is the central tool in the Ship Canal Water Quality Project.
By midnight on March 12th, please submit your name suggestions via Twitter (at #NameThatTBM) or on-line at the Ship Canal Water Quality Project survey page (click here.) Before you submit, you can watch a video on YouTube(click here,) by Seattle Public Utilities staffers on Seattle-themed suggestions – and the Center of the Universe theme may be overlooked. Also, check out ‘fun’ facts about the Tunnel Boring Machine in a Seattle Public Utilities .pdf (click here.)
There are a few guidelines for the Name That TBM contest:
- submissions must be the original work of the entrant
- group/organization submissions are welcome!
- all profanity/offensive entries will be automatically disqualified
- all entries may be listed on Seattle Public Utilities websites, print materials and social media
Ship Canal Water Quality Project team members will review the entries after the March 12th deadline, and select the best to put out for public vote! Voting will take place between March 18th -24th – using some of the same sources as the original submissions. If you have questions about the NameThatTBM contest, or the Ship Canal Water Quality Project, visit the Seattle Public Utilities Project website (click here,) or contact SPU_ShipCanalProject@seattle.gov or 206/701-0233.