As of today, levels of fecal coliform bacteria are nearly back to historic conditions after the recent city of Everett sewer-line break.

The sewer-line break at approximately 6 a.m. on April 12, near 11800 Silver Way, is estimated to have discharged up to 1 million gallons of untreated sewage into North Creek, which flows south into the Sammamish River and Lake Washington. Everett repaired the sewer line at approximately 7 a.m. on April 13.

Snohomish County Public Works Surface Water Management is coordinating with the city of Everett, Department of Ecology, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Snohomish Health District, King County and the cities of Mill Creek and Bothell to notify citizens and assess impacts to drainage systems and water quality.

Water-quality results and visual assessments on April 12 and 16 confirmed the presence of sewage in North Creek at McCollum Park and up to 8.5 miles downstream, prior to discharge into the Sammamish River. Along with detections of soap, fecal coliform bacteria and E.coli counts on April 12 at McCollum Park were measured at over 300,000 colonies. Continued monitoring through April 25 showed that fecal coliform and E.coli single sample counts at all stations continued to fall to near historic conditions. The state bacteria standard for recreational contact is 100 colonies for a single sample. Snohomish County advises residents to avoid physical contact with North Creek until further notice provided by the city of Everett.

Although dissolved oxygen and pH values had returned to normal at McCollum Park and locations downstream on April 16, Snohomish County did find one dead cutthroat trout approximately one quarter of a mile downstream of the spill where North Creek crosses 124th Street Southeast.