Divers from the Seattle chapter of Global Underwater Explorers have discovered a large accumulation of dead fish beneath the Crosslake Connection in Lake Washington . the discovery has prompted an urgent investigation by Sound Transit into whether deteriorating electrical cables from the floating rail line are causing the deaths.
A four-foot pile of corpses beneath the Crosslake Connection
During recent underwater expeditions near the I-90 bridge, divers Shahein Moussavi and Travis Eiler reported finding a four-foot-wide pile of dead fish at the bottom of Lake Washington.. The team, representing the local chapter of Global Underwater Explorers, spent months cataloging cables that spool down into the water and found them tangled both at the bottom of the lake and over the bridge structure.
The discovery follows initial concerns raised during a 2023 inspection regarding a damaged section of the bridge. As the report notes, the situation has escalated from a maintenance concern to an environmental crisis,with divers describing the sight of the dead fish as increasingly alarming each time they returned to the site.
Suspected electrical shorts and chemical reactions in Lake Washington
The investigation is currently focused on whether the electrical infrastructure is directly harming aquatic life through physical or chemical means. As KIRO-7 reported, there is concern that if the cables are incorrectly wired or suffer from a short circuit , the resulting sparks and heat could trigger harmful chemical reactions in the water.
One specific point of failure identified by the divers is a light rail cable that has snapped and is now dangling from the bridge into the lake. Travis Eiler described one of the piles of dead fish as "oddly shaped," suggesting that the interaction between the cables and the environment is creating irregular and potentially dangerous conditions beneath the surface.
Sound Transit’s sensor-heavy response for Q2 2024
In response to the findings, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine has pledged to act with "urgency" to secure the project and protect the lake. The agency’s COO, Safebie, has moved to assemble a team of specialists to assess the issue and remove any dead fish found to prevent further ecological degradation.
The agency's technical roadmap includes a lidar network designed to track cable temperature at a very high resolution. Additionally, Sound Transit plans to conduct an extensive environmental study in Q2 2024,which will involve installing sensors to detect power changes and searching for chemical by-products resulting from the deteriorating infrastructure.
The search for a root cause: Disease or electricity?
Despite the rapid deployment of engineers and biologists, several critical questions remain regarding the true source of the fish killings.. It is currently unverified whether the deaths are being caused by electrical shocks, chemical leaching, or an underlying fish disease that requires specialized testing. Furthermore, it remains unknown if the federal government will expedite the replacement of the aging cables or if Sound Transit will be required to manage the project through standard, slower timelines.
This uncertainty extends to the Pacific Northwest commercial fishing industry. Because these companies have not yet developed a protocol for managing electrical disruptions in the lake, they remain in a state of limbo. While Sound Transit has committed to establishing permanent monitoring guidance, the immediate impact on local fishing remains a significant public concern.
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