Sewage talk with Tacoma Green Drinks
Mindy Roberts started with trivia. The whole back half of the bar, about 40 people, quieted for a moment and gave her their attention. Prize hats were at stake.
“How many sewage spill happened in Tacoma in the past five years?” she asked. It’s a question that would leave most people thinking for at least a few minutes, but not this group. Right off the bat, people had guesses, and they weren’t shy about it. Numbers were shouted. The noise volume went up.
“Was it zero?” Roberts asked.
Mindy Roberts, Puget Sound Program Director at Washington Conservation Action
Some people laughed.
“No!”
“Was it between ten and twenty?”
More ruckus and more disagreement.
“Was it more than 50?” Roberts asked.
“Yes!”
Someone walking past the building might have thought a touchdown was scored against a rival team, and the fans watching the flat-screen TVs were going nuts.
More numbers were yelled and hats were distributed, though it was hard to tell who won. The most specific answer, according to Roberts, was 52 sewage spills in the five year period that she and her team checked.
Roberts is the Puget Sound Program Director at Washington Conservation Action. She’s an expert in clean water and water pollution. Invited to talk with the Tacoma Green Drinks group by organizer Chrissy Cooley, Roberts had roughly five minutes to hold the attention of a bunch of beer-drinking environmentalists.
Imagine her surprise, she suggested, when a few people started asking her about sewage spills in the Thea Foss Waterway, and she didn’t know what they were talking about. With thirty-five years of experience working for clean waterways and the environment, you’d think she’d know all about the South Sound water issues, she said. What was going on?
Rumors abounded, and it turns out that sewage is indeed spilling into the Waterway. Yet the public generally knows little about it.
Sewage spills in Tacoma, WA
The Thea Foss Waterway has been called one the most polluted waterways in the U.S. When the Surfrider Foundation released their 2024 Clean Water Annual Report, they named the South Sound Thea Foss Floating Dock as one of their top ten polluted beach areas with a 64% bacteria rate. That’s from sewage, which affects other beaches in the area, too, including the popular Jack Hyde Park Beach and Owen Beach in Point Defiance Park.
What causes most of these spills? According to Roberts, blockage. Oil dumped down drains or disposable (but not flushable) wipes that are flushed down toilets eventually clog pipes and lead to sewage overflow.
It’s a twofold problem. 1) Sewage spills into the waterways. 2) The public isn’t aware and swims in it.
But now, the second part of the problem is being addressed. After Washington State Legislature passed a sewage-right-to-know law in April 2025, the Washington State Department of Ecology is tasked with creating a website that makes sewage spill information publicly available.
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Ecology, the complexity of sewage pollution depends on the cause. A major spill and a slow leak are different issues. Seldom are the simple solutions.
However, the spokesperson confirmed the website is in progress, and it is expected to be ready by the July 2026 due date.
The other part of the problem, reducing the number of spills and the amount of sewage that is spilled, requires further action. For Roberts, that means getting the Tacoma City Council on board to work out a plan.
Roberts concluded by offering preprinted postcards that ask council members to take a more active role in addressing water pollution problems. Attendees who wanted a postcard were asked to sign and address the card to their appropriate representative.
More on Tacoma Green Drinks
Tacoma Green Drinks is part of a larger international network called Green Drinks. To use the Green Drinks name, they’re expected to follow the Green Drinks Code. That means events are primarily free-form, casual, and fun. Being an environmentalist is hard enough. Sometimes it’s important to have something that feels more like friendship and connection than work.
Cooley, who organizes the meet-ups with Robb Kreibel, Erin Dilworth, and Phyllis McElroy, said she got involved with the Tacoma group after having such a great experience with the Columbus, Ohio, Green Drinks when she was studying environmental science and sustainability at OSU. When she moved to Tacoma, she knew she could meet people and make friends through the Tacoma Green Drinks events.
Chrissy Cooley, Tacoma Green Drinks organizer and executive director of Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) with Leigh McIntire, executive director of Washington On-Site Sewage Assocation (WOSSA), and Carl Slimp, PSCAA
The informal group comprises environmentalists and the environmentally interested and meets monthly at different bars in Tacoma. The September meeting with Roberts was held at the Spar in Old Town. Many of the attendees were from nonprofits, government agencies, and academia. At the end of the main table sat four AmeriCorps volunteers who do habitat restoration along waterways.
The casualness of the events is also what helps bring new people to sustainability.
Cooley described Green Drinks as “the first rung on the ladder to engagement.” It can be difficult to get people interested in joining organizations or staying up-to-date on policy proposals or changes; it’s a lot easier to get people out for a few drinks.
“We’re about trust, community building, and relationships,” Cooley said.
Tacoma Green Drinks meets on first Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. You can find out more about upcoming events from the Tacoma Green Drinks Facebook page or you can check out their Instagram account @greendrinks253.
