Toxic runoff — silent killer

This rainbow of pollution is part of the slow poison that threatens Puget Sound’s future

By John Dodge | The Olympian • Published February 17, 2008

Every time it rains, pollution pours into Puget Sound.

• About this series
• Puget Sound's future depends on drastic change
• Air pollutants also have effect on area's water quality
• What you can do now to help Puget Sound
• Graphic: Stormwater runoff and Puget Sound
• Previous coverage

Stormwater Runoff
and Puget Sound

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Once the rain hits the ground, it becomes an instant delivery system for much of the pollution that 4 million people in the Puget Sound basin spread across the landscape — oil and grease on parking lots, driveways and roads, fertilizers and pesticides on lawns, animal waste and even the heavy metals that result from wear and tear on brakes and tires.

The pollution pathway is called stormwater runoff — the No. 1 pollution problem in urban Puget Sound.

"In the face of population growth and development, stormwater may be the biggest challenge we face in the effort to clean up and protect Puget Sound," state Department of Ecology director Jay Manning said.

Here are some of the reasons stormwater is so devastating:

• A recent Ecology estimate of toxic chemical loading confirmed that runoff sends more pollution into Puget Sound than any other pathway. It delivers 22,580 metric tons of oil and petroleum each year — a slow-moving oil spill more than 20 times the volume of direct oil spills entering the Sound.

• About one-third of the state's water bodies that don't meet federal Clean Water Act standards have storm-water to blame.

• The ability of stormwater to flush pet, livestock and wild animal wastes into rivers, streams and Puget Sound is a key reason tidelands approved for commercial shellfish harvests dropped by 20 percent between 1980 and 2004.

• Marine sediments near stormwater discharge pipes in urban bays are among the most polluted in Puget Sound. Look no farther than lower Budd Inlet and the high dioxin levels near the Port of Olympia marine terminal.

• Stormwater, especially after a heavy rain, erodes stream banks, dumps sediment in the water and scours gravel from the streams — all obstacles to the recovery of salmon and the 40 other imperiled species living precariously in Puget Sound.