Washington Women Fighting to Protect Our Environment
Sue Joerger, the Puget Soundkeeper, steers her small craft around an industrial site on the seemingly pristine waters of Lake Union and looks for telltale signs of chemical spills and pollution. She poses a question: Know what you get if you take copper, mercury, a handful of PAHs, add some PCBs, and mix in a little arsenic and tributlytin? A toxic soup washing into our lakes and rivers, contaminating our beaches and compromising our marine life.
Joerger has been conducting the same weekly search for five years. She joins hundreds of women throughout the Seattle area committed to protecting and preserving the natural resources of our region.
Joerger sees the result of growing populations on the waterfront areas she patrols: A third of her patrols uncover some type of toxic discharge. The Clean Water Act of 1970, intended to stop the dumping of pollutants into our nation’s waters by 1985, has been thwarted by increased pollution, corporate nonconformity and increased population density, says Joerger.
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, a member of Water Alliance, an organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to preserve our nation’s water resources, operates weekly patrols on Lake Union, Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River. Joerger captains a small fleet of boats and kayaks that monitor activity on the Sound. A former timber industry executive, she decided in 1999 to begin her “giving back” campaign by addressing the growing pollution of her beloved Puget Sound. She lives on her sailboat and starts her mornings with a walk at the Ballard Locks.
“It’s incredible to see the variety of marine life at the Locks; it’s so serene and beautiful. I’ve always been connected and passionate about our marine environment. It’s a privilege to get up every day and protect something that I love.” But below the surface attractions, a nightmare looms, says Joerger. “We have species of fish that are now disappearing from our waters; liver lesions are beginning to show up in other species, and it’s hard to believe, but all King County beaches are closed to shellfish harvesting due to pollution.”
A 2003 Washington Department of Ecology report states, “There is a very strong perception that we live in a state rich in clean, abundant water. This perception is simply not true.” The Puget Sound Action Team’s “State of the Sound” overview of 2004 cites storm water runoff as the primary cause of increased pollution reaching Puget Sound, concluding that “while Puget Sound appears as beautiful as always, its rich web of life is at risk. The building blocks of a healthy environment – clean water, sufficient habitat and an intact food web – continue to come under serious pressure.”
Joerger contends the number one step we can all take to protect the Sound is to monitor and improve the way we handle storm water runoff. Washington’s abundant rainfall runs across land and pavement, carrying with it untreated pollutants and toxins that pour into our marine waters.
Joerger says we can do simple things – watch what we dump into our drains, curtail illegal dumping and rethink the way we use pesticides in our gardens. Her cadre of volunteers, nearly half of whom are women, not only searches the waters of the Sound for violators but also educates others about the dangers of runoff. Even “charity” car washes need to be reconsidered, Joerger states with a faint smile. She educates schools on the better plan – sell tickets to a facility that recycles and treats the used water. “It’s not sexy, not exciting, but storm water runoff is something we can all become more informed about.” Joerger continues, “We need to ‘walk our talk’ – make individual choices to do the right thing, while working with industry and the legislature to craft laws that will protect the Puget Sound for years to come.”
Continue reading this story from Seattle Woman Magazine:
Washington Women Fighting to Protect Our Environment
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance is an Earth Share of Washington organization.