Toxic stormwater is one of the Sound's biggest threats
Knowledge goes only so far in controlling polluted runoff
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND -- It's up to the oysters now.
Can they save Bainbridge Island's Eagle Harbor? A government cleanup hasn't.
The scenic bay is still under assault, despite a costly rehab of the harbor. A defunct creosote plant at the water's edge was walled off, vast amounts of poisoned sludge were scooped out and what remained was buried under clean sand.
But the $100 million-and-counting effort couldn't keep the harbor's eelgrass -- a crucial marine refuge for salmon and other sea creatures -- from dying off at the harbor's other end.
The killer? Stormwater runoff.
With each rainstorm, a dose of algae-fertilizing nutrients, plus assorted toxic filth, washes off the streets and yards of the town and flows into the harbor.
Stormwater pollution is plaguing Puget Sound, and government efforts to control it are running far behind the 270-person-a-day population increase and ensuing development.
Federal scientists have made preliminary predictions that the Sound's coho salmon could be extinct in 60 years because of stormwater pollution. Chinook -- the favorite food of local orcas -- seem more resilient, but remain at risk.
"People don't understand that Puget Sound is turning into a cesspool," Cara Cruickshank says.
So the environmental consultant launched a tiny non-profit group that is taking a stab at cleaning up the harbor, which also is being polluted by sewage treatment plants and leaking septic tanks.
The group's means are unconventional. Aided by the Boy Scouts, Rotary Club and a local high school's ecology club, they started hanging baskets of baby oysters on the docks. The mollusks are cleaning machines, constantly pumping water in and filtering pollutants out.
For years, government officials and scientists have known that polluted stormwater poses one of the greatest threats to the health of the Sound.
And they know how to fix it.
Codes need to be changed so developments include enough tree- and plant-covered land to soak up the water running off paved-over surfaces. Urban areas need to be outfitted with "green roofs" planted with grasses that absorb water and cisterns to catch rain for irrigation. Some pollutants -- pesticides, metal-containing paints and certain auto parts -- might need to be banned. Improvements are needed in city and county systems for catching and cleaning stormwater.
But so far, no one has had the political nerve or money to match the threat.
"We're getting paralyzed because the problem is so challenging," said Sue Joerger, head of the non-profit Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. "We've got to find a way out of this tangled mess."
At the end of the year, the state is set to release the final rules governing stormwater pollution in the cities and counties of the Puget Sound basin. Critics -- including fellow government agencies -- who have examined the far-reaching regulations have found numerous problems, calling into question whether the Sound can ever hope to see a rebound of its salmon or a return to a thriving marine ecosystem.
Continue reading this article from the Seattle P-I:
Toxic stormwater is one of the Sound's biggest threats
