Commencement Bay cleaning up

Sediment at the bottom of Commencement Bay and its waterways tells the story of their environmental health, and the latest reviews indicate both are improving.

Two reports released Friday cover efforts by the state to reduce pollution in the bay as a whole and by the City of Tacoma in the Thea Foss and Wheeler-Osgood waterways.

State and local officials presented the data at the new Center for Urban Waters, located on the Foss Waterway and dedicated to helping clean up Puget Sound.

“It’s mostly a good news story,” said Rob Duff, manager of the state Department of Ecology’s Environmental Assessment Program. “Healthy sediments are an indicator of overall ecosystem health.”

The Ecology Department study found signs that the entrance to Tacoma and its industrial waterfront is becoming less toxic. In 1983, the bay was listed as a Superfund site, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency required it be cleaned up.

Samples taken in 2008 from 30 sites in the bay were compared with samples taken in 1999 from the same sites. The study tested and compared some 120 contaminants.

The comparison showed “consistently” reduced levels of most toxic metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury and copper, said Valerie Partridge, a state marine ecologist and author of the study. The levels of a few metals remain the same, she added.

The study also found reduced levels of certain cancer-causing chemicals, and healthier populations of tiny sediment-dwelling animals that are at the bottom of the bay’s food chain and that influence the health of other marine life.

Still, the bay remains a ways from being taken off the list of Superfund sites. While improvements were found in levels of some metals and chemicals in the bay, others showed no change.

The state study also found increases in plasticizers – or phthalates – which are used to make plastics flexible. They are pervasive in everyday products, including as coatings of pharmaceutical pills and in building materials, detergents, toys, paints and textiles.

And one area in the south-central part of the bay showed a decline in the health of small marine life such as worms, clams and other invertebrates that live in the mud. Scientists say the decline could be a natural phenomenon, but they aren’t sure.

“There is still some work to be done,” said Partridge, adding that the emergence of new contaminants such as flame retardants and personal care products pose new challenges.

Meanwhile, Tacoma’s annual report on its efforts to monitor and control polluted stormwater flowing into the Foss and the connecting Wheeler-Osgood Waterway over the past eight years also showed positive results.

Seven major drain outlets and upland basins have been monitored and studied between 2001 and 2009.

Over time, 950 samples were collected, said Dana de Leon, an engineer with the city. The resulting data show a reduction in pollution of various contaminants, ranging from 40 percent to 90 percent depending on the outlet, she said.

“It’s amazing, great news,” Lorna Mauren, manager of the surface water group in the Public Works Department, said in a separate interview.

The improving health of the Foss is evident, she said: “It smells good; it looks good. Fish and little animals can live in it.”

Mauren credited part of the improvements to the city’s aggressive efforts to trace stormwater-borne pollutants that enter the waterway back to their sources and then shutting the sources down.

In 2009 alone, the report said, city workers responded to 200 spills and complaints and conducted 1,108 business inspections.

Between 2006 and 2008, de Leon said, the city also cleaned its entire stormwater drain system and removed residual sediment that can contaminate stormwater when it rains.

The result, she said, has been major reductions in lead and other dangerous chemicals entering the waterways.

Stormwater running into the bay is clearly the biggest contributor of toxins not only in the bay but also throughout Puget Sound, Duff said.

Like Tacoma, he said, the Ecology Department is learning that the most efficient way to stop pollution is to prevent it in the first place.

Urban bays such as Commencement are getting special monitoring under the state’s Urban Bays Initiative, Partridge said. The effort started in 2007 with Elliott Bay and continued in 2008 in Tacoma. It is moving to urban waters as far north as Bellingham Bay.

Sediment studies provide a baseline of pollution levels and help policymakers determine the best management strategies to reduce it, Duff said.

“The sediments show us what kinds of pollution people are sending downstream into urban bays,” he said. “This baseline and long-term monitoring work helps us learn if our strategies are working and what future investments we need to make to restore and protect Puget Sound.”

One contaminant in particular is tied to tumors on English sole in Puget Sound. The Elliott Bay study showed a decline in that contaminant equated with a similar decline of tumors in the fish, he said.

A similar decline in tumors is expected in Commencement Bay, Duff said.

Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692

mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com