Clear Creek, a Puget Sound salmon stream, flows into Dyes Inlet, which supports shellfish beds, water recreation activities, and nearshore wildlife habitat. Like many Puget Sound streams, Clear Creek has been encroached on by rapid development as the Puget Sound region booms. The creek became notorious for flooding nearby businesses and roadways, costing businesses and homeowners time and money, contributing to water quality problems, and causing instream habitat loss for fish. A state and local cooperative project on Clear Creek used natural infrastructure to address polluted stormwater runoff from the commercial area of Silverdale. Kitsap County transformed an unused 3-acre lot into the Duwe’iq Stormwater Treatment Wetland.
The stormwater treatment wetland removes up to 90 percent of the harmful metals, solids, and oils in runoff water from 13 acres of parking lot and rooftop before discharging into Clear Creek. An initial pool provides settling of solids, and the slow movement of water meandering through the facility allows contact with plants, resulting in contaminant removal. Once the water is treated, it discharges through a new, naturalized outfall into Clear Creek. This exemplary wetland demonstrates how effectively stormwater can be cleaned by using biological processes before discharging into sensitive streams.
Funding:
- Kitsap County Public Works
- Washington State Department of Ecology
Congressional District: 6
Partners:
- Kitsap County Public Works
- Parametrix
- Sound Excavation
- Kitsap Conservation District
Further questions? Think you can use this story as inspiration for your own project? Please inquire with:
Chris May–Surface and Stormwater Management Devision Director
cmay@co.kitsap.wa.us
or
Barbara Zaroff–Capital Projects Engineer for Kitsap County
BZaroff@co.kitsap.wa.us