Puget Sound Innovation Stories

Stormwater

Stormwater runoff, as it flows over paved surfaces, picks up and carries urban pollutants to local streams and waterways of Puget Sound and threatens the health of our food web. Transforming paved surfaces into green space is one way to reduce the volume of water and filter the water of pollutants before it enters Puget Sound waterways. In bays where pollution has been removed through a combination of dredging and stormwater treatment actions, it has been proven that the health of bottom-dwelling fish has improved.

Don’t Drip and Drive

Don’t Drip and Drive

Helping drivers prevent pollution from drips and leaks Each year, vehicles driving around Puget Sound leak approximately 7 million quarts of vehicle fluids, including motor oil, fuel, lubricants and more into the Puget Sound watershed. Oil and other petroleum products...

Tacoma stormwater system cleaning for legacy pollutants

Tacoma stormwater system cleaning for legacy pollutants

Erasing a legacy of pollution The Thea Foss Waterway in Commencement Bay includes three miles of nearshore habitat important for fish and wildlife. This area was contaminated by over a century of industrialization and was identified by the Environmental Protection...

StormFest Education Program

StormFest Education Program

Delivering Effective Stormwater Education to Diverse Communities StormFest is a hands-on, one-day, outdoor stormwater and watershed science education program for middle school students in the City of Burien. The program was developed to teach students what stormwater...

Clean Samish Initiative

Clean Samish Initiative

Cleaner water for shellfish beds The Puget Sound Partnership 's Leadership Council set a goal of upgrading 10,800 acres of shellfish beds by 2020. Over 4,000 of those acres are in the Samish River watershed. The Clean Samish Initiative is a partnership working to...

Thornton Creek Salmon Habitat Restoration

Thornton Creek Salmon Habitat Restoration

Salmon return to spawn after restoring an urban stream's natural habitat Chinook salmon returned to Thornton Creek in the Meadowdale neighborhood of Seattle in 2018 for the first time in twenty years. Chinook salmon were filmed laying their eggs in this urban stream,...

ECOSS Spill Kit Program

ECOSS Spill Kit Program

Preventing accidental spills before they drain into waterways Stormwater runoff is the leading source of pollution in Puget Sound watersheds. During storms, rainwater picks up everyday spills and leaks from business activities, construction work and vehicles. These...

Kitsap County Stormwater System Operation & Maintenance

Kitsap County Stormwater System Operation & Maintenance

Maintaining effective stormwater facilities to reduce water pollution For Kitsap County, maintenance is the foundation of a properly functioning drainage and stormwater treatment system. This system includes: 670 stormwater facilities where runoff from roads is...

12,000 Rain Gardens

12,000 Rain Gardens

Improving Puget Sound water quality one rain garden at a time! Rain gardens reduce polluted runoff into streams and Puget Sound by capturing and filtering stormwater runoff from roofs, driveways, roads, and other hard surfaces. Rain gardens are being installed all...

Duwe’iq Stormwater Treatment Wetland

Duwe’iq Stormwater Treatment Wetland

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...

Depave Puget Sound

Depave Puget Sound

Project Summary Nonpoint sources of pollution, such as stormwater runoff, are the biggest threats to Puget Sound water quality. Polluted stormwater carries toxins, nutrients, sediment, and bacteria to Puget Sound where these pollutants affect aquatic life and public...

Moga Farm Restoration Project

Moga Farm Restoration Project

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 01 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 39 WRIA: 7 CITY, COUNTY: Snohomish, Snohomish County   PROJECT SUMMARY The Snohomish River is the second largest producer of Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon in the Puget Sound. The Moga Farm...

Drayton Harbor

Drayton Harbor

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 2 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 42 WRIA: 1 CITY, COUNTY: Blaine, Whatcom County Project Summary For decades, Drayton Harbor provided ideal growing conditions for shellfish and jobs for many in the local community. By 1995, much of Drayton Harbor was...

Lower Big Quilcene

Lower Big Quilcene

The Lower Big Quilcene restoration project is in the design phase of developing community-supported actions to improve flood protection for the town of Quilcene, over 30 homes, and road access to the largest employer in Jefferson County—Coast...

Puyallup Green Street

Puyallup Green Street

Puyallup has its first Green Street—though for now it's still called 8th Avenue. The 8th Avenue Low-Impact Development (LID) retrofit encompasses more than 18,000 square feet of porous asphalt roadway, 3,200 square feet of permeable sidewalks, and 11 rain...

Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility

Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility

Polluted stormwater is one of the biggest threats to Puget Sound, and the Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility helps counter that threat. Before the facility was built, polluted stormwater from a 754-acre watershed flowed untreated before spilling...

Manchester Stormwater Park

Manchester Stormwater Park

Manchester Stormwater Park is Puget Sound's first stormwater park, providing water quality treatment for an entire community's stormwater in just one small park. The project supports Kitsap County's efforts to meet the requirements of the federal Clean...

Capitol Hill Water Quality Project—Swale on Yale

Capitol Hill Water Quality Project—Swale on Yale

Whenever it rains, untreated stormwater from more than 600 acres of north Capitol Hill, in Seattle, drains directly into Lake Union. Stormwater flows down buildings and across the streets, collecting pollutants before being discharged to the lake. Lake Union is a key...

Clarks Creek

Clarks Creek

Clarks Creek near the city of Puyallup was the site of a recent study conducted by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. The two-year study examined sediment sources throughout the creek, and investigators found that if 23 major sources of sediment were repaired, more...

Washington’s Local Source Control Partnership

Washington’s Local Source Control Partnership

Washington's Local Source Control Partnership offers small businesses in 19 Puget Sound communities free, hands-on pollution prevention assistance, such as spill prevention, proper chemical management, and other resources. Many pollution prevention programs focus on...

Birch Bay

Birch Bay

Birch Bay, north of Bellingham, was closed to commercial shellfish harvesting in 2008 because of bacteria contamination, affecting a 670-yard radius around the mouth of Terrell Creek.  Local, state, and federal agencies collaborated to create a comprehensive...

Bayshore Preserve &  Oakland Bay

Bayshore Preserve & Oakland Bay

Bayshore Preserve was created to protect the country's most productive Manila clam site. Washington state is the biggest exporter of Manila clams in the country, and Oakland Bay in Mason County is where to find them. The Squaxin Island Tribe, as well as 2,000 annual...