Sewage Dumping Caught On Tape

Undercover video from KIRO 7 Eyewitness News shows sewage dumping that landed a local man behind bars.

South Sound Bureau Chief Richard Thompson spent more than a month investigating this case of illegal dumping.

A shellfish facility on Oakland Bay is part of multi-million dollar industry that police say was threatened by one man's actions.

"Quite a gut-wrenching thing to see."

That's the reaction to undercover videotape showing a man dumping sewage right next to a creek that runs into one of our country's most productive shellfish beds.

"This is a huge threat to water quality," said Sandy Howard of the state Department of Ecology. "[It's a] threat to downstream oysters."

The man doing the dumping is allegedly George Harmon, and police believe he may have illegally dumped more than 370,000 gallons of sewage.

Harmon had a contract to pick up sewage from three Mason County treatment plants.

He was supposed to bring the waste to a facility where chemicals are added to kill dangerous bacteria.

"These are the trip tickets that he submitted to us," said Gary Yando, of Mason County Utilities.

But a county review of his records revealed a huge amount of sewage unaccounted for.

"Probably in the area of 300 some-odd thousand gallons," Yando said.

Undercover surveillance of Harmon's home quickly showed where the sewage was going.

In some cases, he sprayed it straight onto the yard. In others, he ran a hose into the woods near Mulaney Creek.

"There's no doubt in my mind it's in the creek," said Dean Byrd of the Mason County Sheriff's Office.

So Mason County Sheriff's detectives moved in and arrested George Harmon for theft and forgery because he had a contract to properly dispose of the waste but allegedly just dumped it in his yard.

Next, a team of environmental experts from the state and county combed the property and the creek for evidence of contamination.

Fears the sewage may have traveled all the way into Shelton's Oakland Bay prompted immediate action.

"The shellfish operations are shut down," said Sandy Howard.

Operators of Taylor Shellfish are outraged by the sewage dump.

"I've never seen anything, I've never even heard of anything like this anywhere," said Diane Cooper of Taylor Shellfish.

They say 40 percent of our entire country's Manila clam supply come from the area near the dump site.

And their operations were shut down for days until tests confirmed the shellfish beds are safe.

"Absolutely no regard not only for the environment, but for other humans," Cooper said. "And it's appalling."

When we caught up to Harmon at a court appearance, he had nothing to say to us.