Is it fair that only some places have been designated as Marine Recovery Areas?
The MRA area designation was developed by Public Health with in consultation with a VMI MRA advisory Work Group. The Work Group considered a variety of factors including the location of shellfish harvest closure areas, recreation areas, wellhead protection areas, critical areas, development density, age of housing, and number of OSS repairs. The Work Group recommended keeping the MRA small and manageable in part based on the limited number of OSS design and maintenance professionals available to inspect repair and maintain OSS on VMI. The specific boundaries for the East Passage are were established pursuant to direction from the WDOH shellfish harvest program. In the future, additional MRA areas may be designated in King County through a similar process. Additional details on the VMI MRA designation are available in Part 4 the King County On-Site Septic System Management Plan.
