Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, May 31, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
Swirling concern Sammamish council raises questions over stormwater runoff
The entire Gao family, parents Carl and Cissy, with Ella, 7, and Emma, born Jan. 21. Below, Carl Gao demonstrates with his hands how small Ella was at birth, next to a little T-shirt that looks more like doll clothing.
BY KEVIN ENDEJAN KENDEJAN@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
rare to have a baby this small, but to have two tiny babies, and for them to do so well, is very surprising.” Batra said technology enables neonatologists to keep babies alive that are over 500 grams. The first month of life of the premature child is his focus. What Cissy didn’t know during her first pregnancy was that she had “textbook preeclampsia.” Preeclampsia is a life-threatening disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period. With preeclampsia, the mother will often have a rapid rise in blood pressure that can lead to seizure, stroke, multiple organ failure and death of the mother and/or baby. Carl said his wife is perfectly fine and fit, but with both pregnancies, her blood pressure
Representatives from the city of Issaquah recently tried to assure their neighbors to the north there’s no reason to worry about the potential injection of stormwater runoff into an aquifer that serves 54,000 Sammamish residents. Speaking on behalf of the Issaquah mayor’s office at the May 20 Sammamish City Council meeting, Dan Ervin, vice president of RH2 Engineering, Inc., told councilmembers the practice is widely used. “This is a very conventional stormwater disposal device,” Ervin said. “There are hundreds, thousands of these throughout western Washington. Virtually every community has a similar situation — this facility that’s under discussion tonight is neither unusual nor unique.” The “facility” Ervin referred to is the Lower Reid Infiltration Gallery, or LRIG — a controversial football-field shaped piece of land at the foot of the Issaquah Highlands. The piece of property, called a vadose zone, uses sand and gravel to naturally filtrate contaminants before they reach an underground aquifer. Issaquah, which owns the LRIG, is seeking a permit from the Department of Ecology to continue a testing program for an undetermined amount of time where it would be allowed
SEE GAO FAMILY, 2
SEE STORMWATER, 2
LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
BEATING THE ODDS Issaquah family celebrates healthy daughters, both born premature
BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
A
ll four members of the Gao family are at home under one roof now. But it hasn’t always been that way. In an unusual twist of fate, both Carl and Cissy Gao’s daughters were born premature — and both weighed approximately 1.5 pounds at birth.
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The girls are not twins. Ella is now a smart, curious 7-year-old. Emma, born Jan. 21 this year, at 26 weeks and six days of gestation, weighed 612 grams. Ella was born at 27 weeks and 3 days, weighing 611 grams, or 1.3 pounds. A normal pregnancy is 38 to 40
weeks, and in those last crucial weeks, the lungs are developing. “These are pretty small babies,” said neonatologist Dr. Maneesh Batra who took care of both girls. “In the US, 12 percent of all births are pre-term, but (those weighing) under 1,000 grams make up 2 percent. So this is very
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