thumb|water supply intake and wing dam under construction, 1900.   seattle public utilities (spu) is a public utility agency of the city of seattle, washington, which provides water, sewer, drainage and garbage services for 1.3 million people in king county, washington.services, seattle public utilities. accessed online 6 december 2007. the agency was established in 1997, consolidating the city's water department with other city functions. ==seattle's water supply== spu owns two water collection facilities: one in the cedar river watershed, which supplies 70 percent of the drinking water used by 1.3 million people in seattle and surrounding suburbs (primarily the city south of the lake washington ship canal) and the other in the tolt river watershed which supplies the other 30 percent (primarily the city north of the canal)., seattle public utilities. accessed online 12 december 2007., seattle public utilities. accessed online 12 december 2007. from the city's founding through the 1880s, seattle's water was provided by several private companies. in a july 8, 1889 election,alan j. stein, seattle voters authorize cedar river water supply system on july 8, 1889., historylink, january 1, 2000. accessed online 6 december 2007. barely a month after the great seattle fire (june 6, 1889) gave a dramatic illustration of the limitations of the city's water supply, seattle's citizens voted 1,875 to 51 to acquire and operate their own water system. in accordance with this vote, the city water department acquired the lake union and spring hill plants for $400,000. this was understood from the first to be only a temporary expedient, inadequate to the expected growth of the city. attention soon focused on the cedar river, an idea first proposed in the 1870s; the question was how to bring that water to the city. from 1892, the responsibility for doing so fell to newly hired ci
Companies_established_in_1997 Government_of_Seattle,_Washington Public_utilities_of_the_United_States Recycling_industry Waste_management_companies_of_the_United_States Water_companies_of_the_United_States